BY 


A  DECLARATION 

THE    GENERAL     CONVENTION    OF     THE 
NEW  JERUSALEM  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA 


^m'  The   Reason   for  the   Declaration 


A  Statement  of  the  Doctrine  of  Swedenborg 

and  the  New  Church  Concerning 

Marriage  and  the  Sins 

Against  Marriage 


ISSUED  BY  THE 

GENERAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE 

NEW  JERUSALEM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

1909 


UU^B    LIBRAHY 
Y- 6(^36^ 

A  DECLARATION 

BY    THE    GENERAL     CONVENTION    OF     THE 

NEW  JERUSALEM  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES  OF  AMERICA 


The   Reason   for   the   Declaration 


A  Statement  of  the  Doctrine  of  Swedenborg 

and  the  New  Church  Concerning 

Marriage  and  the  Sins 

Against  Marriage 


ISSUED  BY  THE 

GENERAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE 

NEW  JERUSALEM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

1909 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

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littp://www.arcliive.org/details/declarationbygenOOgeneiala 


A  DECLARATION 

By  the  General  Convention  of  the  New 

Jerusalem  in  the  United  States 

of  America 


A     DECLARATION 

By  the  General  Convention  of  the  'New  Jerusalem  in  the 
United  States  of  America 


"The  necessity  has  arisen  for  the  New  Church  to  make 
clear  its  stand  for  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  purity  of 
life,  at  this  time,  because  of  the  teaching  put  forth  in  the 
name  of  the  New  Church  by  the  body  commonly  known 
as  the  'Academy,'  with  headquarters  at  Bryn  Athyn,  Pa., 
that  under  certain  conditions  sexual  relations  outside  of 
marriage  are  not  evil,  nor  a  violation  of  the  commandment, 
'Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery.'  The  body  holding  these 
views  has  organized  under  the  name,  'The  General  Church 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,'  which  so  resembles  the  name,  'The 
General  Convention  of  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the  United 
States  of  America,'  that  the  unadvised  may  mistake  one  for 
the  other.  They  have  also  insisted  before  the  public  and 
in  a  court  of  law,  and  in  their  periodical  and  other  writings, 
that  their  teaching  is  the  teaching  of  Swedenborg,  and  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  New  Church. 

"The  General  Convention  of  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  assembled  in  its  eighty-ninth 
Annual  Session,  being  its  first  session  since  the  hearing  in 
the  court  of  law,  above  referred  to,  hereby  denies  and 
repudiates  this  teaching,  and  affirms  that  the  Writings  of 
Swedenborg  condemn  as  evil  all  sexual  relations  outside  of 
marriage,  as  well  as  all  conduct,  thought  or  intention  that 
does  not  accord  therewith,  in  letter  and  in  spirit;  and 


further,  that  the  only  law  of  purity  for  all  men  is  that  de- 
clared by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  Matthew  v.  28:  'But  I 
say  unto  you,  That  whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust 
after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his 
heart,' 

"The  revelations  made  by  the  Lord  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  for  the  establishment  of 
the  New  Church  spoken  of  in  Revelation  xxi.  2,  contain 
many  new  and  wonderful  statements  regarding  the  Divine 
origin,  the  holiness,  the  purity,  and  the  spiritual  use  of 
marriage.  TTiey  teach  that  marriage  is  the  highest,  the 
holiest,  the  most  intimate,  and  the  most  enduring  relation 
into  which  finite  beings  can  enter;  that  it  derives  its  origin 
from  the  Lord,  not  only  because  He  instituted  it  in  the 
beginning,  but  because  it  is  from  Him,  being  derived  from 
the  union  or  marriage  of  love  and  wisdom  in  Him;  and  that 
it  also  represents  the  union  of  the  Lord  and  the  church, 
the  Lord  being  called  in  Scripture  the  husband,  and  the 
church  the  bride  or  wife.  The  sacred  use  of  marriage  is 
also  shown  not  only  in  the  continuance  and  increase  of  the 
human  race,  but  also  in  the  salvation  of  human  souls  and 
the  perfecting  of  character;  for  the  true  husband  no  longer 
loves  himself  for  his  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  his  wife; 
and  the  wife  no  longer  loves  her  womanly  qualities  and 
abilities  for  her  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  her  husband, 
the  power  of  self-love  being  thereby  broken,  so  that  a  pure 
and  unselfish  love  can  take  its  place." 


The  Reason  for  the  Declaration 


^ 


The  Reason  for  the  Declaration 


The  teaching  of  the  Academy  that  under  certain  condi- 
tions sexual  relations  outside  of  marriage  are  not  evil  nor 
a  violation  of  the  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit 
adultery,"  may  be  found  in  "Laws  of  Order  for  the  Preser- 
vation of  the  Conjugial,"  by  the  Rev.  C.  Th.  Odhner, 
with  an  introduction  by  Bishop  Pendleton,  published  by 
the  Academy  of  the  New  Church,  in  1904.  This  book  was 
advertised  at  the  time  of  its  issue  as  presenting  "a  plain 
statement  of  the  position  of  the  Academy"  on  the  subject, 
and  at  the  first  General  Assembly  of  the  General  Church, 
the  general  organization  of  the  Academy,  following  the 
publication  of  the  book,  the  stamp  of  approval  was  placed 
upon  it  by  the  Academy  ministers.  The  Journal  of  the 
Council  says,  "The  ministers  stated  that  they  considered 
the  book  an  able  and  correct  presentation  of  the  position 
of  our  body  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  which  it  treats;  that 
its  publication  was  necessary;  and  that  a  great  use  will  be 
performed  by  it."     {New  Church  Life,   October,    1904.) 

In  the  introduction  to  this  book,  after  presenting  what 
he  calls  positive  and  negative  means  of  preserving  the  con- 
jugial, Bishop  Pendleton  says:  — 

There  are  also  means  of  preservation  that  are  neither 
positive  nor  negative,  but  intermediate.  We  are  told  that 
the  love  of  the  sex  in  general  is  at  first  an  intermediate 
love,  neither  good  nor  evil;  but  that  it  becomes  good  or 
evil  in  the  degree  that  it  is  determined  to  one  of  the  sex, 
or  becomes  roaming  lust;  and  further,  while  it  is  still  in 
this  intermediate  state,  it  may  be  ultimated,  and  yet  remain 
intermediate,  as  being  neither  good  nor  evil,  provided  the 
ultimation  be  limited  to  one;  and  that  in  such  cases  the 
conjugial  cannot  otherwise  be  preserved,  or  would  be  de- 
filed and  jeopardized.     (Laws  of  Order,  pp.  19,  20.) 


lO 


There  is  no  authority  for  this  teaching.  The  doctrine 
teaches  otherwise. 

Later  in  the  same  book  the  author,  although  acknowl- 
edging that  in  themselves  non-conjugial  relations  are 
evil  (p.  153),  nevertheless  argues  that  under  certain  con- 
ditions in  the  practice  of  them  one  is  "outside  the  evil  of 
sin,  and  ascends  into  a  sphere  which  is  intermediate  between 
good  and  evil"  (pp.  164,  165).  The  author  recognizes  it 
as  the  vital  difference  between  the  position  of  the  Academy 
and  the  position  of  the  Convention  ministers  on  this  subject, 
as  expressed  in  a  formal  resolution  and  report  of  the  min- 
isters in  1903,  that  the  Convention  ministers  hold  that  all 
sexual  relations  outside  of  marriage  are  forbidden  by  the 
Divine  commandment,  while  the  Academy  holds  that 
under  some  circumstances  they  are  not  so  forbidden,  and 
he  seeks  to  justify  the  Academy  position  (pp.  126-129,  ^^Sj 
166).  Appeal  to  the  saving  power  of  the  Lord  in  such  temp- 
tations is  treated  as  inappropriate  and  ineflFectual,  and  as 
not  protecting  Christian  men  and  members  of  the  New 
Church  from  the  necessity  and  duty,  under  certain  condi- 
tions, of  holding  such  relations  outside  of  marriage,  (pp. 
176-179.) 

In  the  Orphans'  Court  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  at  the  audit  of 
the  administrator's  account  in  the  Kramph  Estate  in  July, 
1908,  the  book  "Laws  of  Order  for  the  Preservation  of  the 
Conjugial,"  was  placed  in  evidence  by  the  counsel  for  the 
Academy.  At  the  same  hearing  an  oflScer  of  the  Academy 
placed  in  evidence  "A  declaration  concerning  the  doctrine 
of  fornication  and  concubinage,"  prepared  by  Bishop  W.  F. 
Pendleton,  and  accepted  by  the  Joint  Council  of  the  Clergy 
and  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  General  Church  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  the  Academy  bodies,  by  formal  reso- 
lution, as  the  expression  of  its  views  of  the  doctrine  of  forni- 
cation and  concubinage.  This  declaration  after  summa- 
rizing Nos.  444-476  of  "Scortatory  Love,"  proceeds:  — ■ 


II 


In  respect  to  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  the  Doctrine  of 
the  New  Church  recognizes  three  degrees  of  the  same: 
First,  marriage  in  time  for  eternity;  second,  marriage  in 
time  for  time;  third,  a  relation  that  is  analogous  to  marriage. 

Marriage  for  eternity  is  for  youth  and  early  manhood 
and  womanhood,  and  no  other  marriage  or  relation  of  the 
sexes  is  recognized  in  the  Doctrine  of  the  New  Church  as 
legitimate  and  according  to  order  for  young  men,  except 
as  noted  in  the  doctrine  given  above,  and  none  other  what- 
soever for  young  women  or  virgins. 

Marriage  in  time  for  time,  or  marriage  to  continue  only 
during  life  in  the  world,  is  for  widowers  and  widows,  and 
for  unmarried  men  and  women  who  have  reached  or  passed 
the  period  of  middle  age.  Marriage  for  eternity  is,  how- 
ever, not  excluded  from  this  period. 

The  relation  that  is  analogous  to  marriage  has  been  pre- 
sented in  full  in  the  foregoing  summary  of  doctrine.  It  is 
not  to  be  entered  into  with  any  woman  except  one  who  has 
been  led  astray  from  the  paths  of  virtue;  and  during  the 
continuance  of  this  relation,  such  woman  should  not  have 
any  dealings  with  other  men.  But  this  relation  entered 
into  or  established  with  women  other  than  those  who  have 
departed  from  the  paths  of  virtue,  would  break  the  bond 
of  society  and  destroy  the  order  of  heaven;  it  is,  therefore, 
absolutely  forbidden  in  the  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church, 
and  is  not  to  be  admitted  into  thought  or  consideration  by 
the  members  of  the  Church. 

The  uses  of  this  doctrine,  as  given  in  the  work  on  "  Con- 
jugial  Love,"  in  establishing  a  condition  analogous  to 
marriage,  as  intermediate  between  an  orderly  marriage  on 
the  one  hand,  and  adultery  and  promiscuous  whoredom 
on  the  other,  are,  as  the  doctrine  states,  in  accord  with 
the  common  perception  of  mankind  and  the  teaching  of 
experience. 

Among  these  uses  are:  the  cure  of  physical  disease;  the 
healing  or  prevention  of  insanity;  the  restoration  of  con- 
jugial  love,  thereby  bringing  back  the  hope  and  promise 
of  salvation  and  eternal  life;  the  lessening  of  the  dangers 
of  seduction  and  adultery;  the  diminishing  of  brothels, 
and  the  vile  diseases  incident  to  them;  and  presents  what 
is  perhaps  the  only  hope  for  the  reformation  of  fallen  women; 
to  say  nothing  of  the  prevention  of  certain  nameless  evils. 


13 


It  is  distinctly  to  be  understood  that  any  practice  under 
the  above  doctrine  is  justified  only  where  there  is  imminent 
danger  of  injury  and  destruction  to  mind  and  body.  It  is 
not  justified  merely  by  strong  physical  desire. 

From  the  summary  of  the  Doctrine  herein  given,  and 
the  brief  considerations  presented,  it  will  be  seen,  there- 
fore, that  if  there  is  immorality  anywhere  it  is  in  the  doctrine 
itself,  for  which  revelation  is  responsible.  But  the  General 
Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem  rejects  this  conclusion  as 
enormous,  and  holds  that  the  doctrine  is  not  immoral, 
but  eminently  moral,  and  is  a  part  of  the  Heavenly  Doctrine, 
which  has  been  given  in  mercy  to  mitigate  and  heal  the 
miseries  of  mankind. 

The  falsity  of  the  Academy  Declaration  is  the  falsity  of 
the  whole  teaching  of  the  Academy  on  this  subject.  It  has 
lost  all  sense  of  relation  and  perspective,  and  exalts  methods 
of  the  Lord's  government  of  the  evil  as  laws  of  spiritual 
life.  In  the  emphasis  it  gives  to  the  fact  that  some  forms  of 
evil  are  less  grievous  than  others  because  less  liarmful  to 
marriage  love,  it  loses  sight  of  the  vastly  more  important 
truth,  rejDcatedly  and  emphatically  declared  in  the  doc- 
trines, that  all  sexual  connections  outside  of  marriage,  and 
all  thoughts  of  such  connections,  are  evil  and  are  condemned 
by  the  Divine  commandment.  These  contentions  are  the 
more  harmful  because  put  forth  under  the  plea  of  loyalty  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  New  Church.  We  beUeve  in  loyalty  to 
the  doctrine,  to  the  whole  doctrine,  but  not  to  an  interpre- 
tation which  makes  one  part  of  the  doctrine  contradict  other 
parts  and  the  spirit  of  the  whole.  The  Academy  fails  to 
place  the  particulars  of  doctrine  under  the  general,  and 
confusion  is  the  result.  Principles  which  relate  to  wholly 
different  conditions  and  which  are  remote  from  the  needs 
of  Christian  men  are  presented  to  members  of  the  church 
and  to  young  men  of  the  church  as  Divine  laws  of  order 
and  Christian  duty,  applicable  in  their  discretion  to  their 


«3 

case.  The  doctrine  and  the  Church  are  falsified  before 
the  world,  and  holy  things  are  brought  into  contempt. 

Witnesses  produced  by  the  Academy  in  the  Kramph 
case  further  declared  their  belief  that  the  teaching  of  the 
Academy  on  this  subject  was  formerly  and  is  now  the 
teaching  of  the  General  Convention,  and  had  been  the 
teaching  of  the  Convention's  Theological  School. 

It  is  evident  that  from  the  testimony  of  the  Academy  in 
the  Kramph  case,  and  their  insistance  that  the  teaching  of 
the  Academy  is  the  teaching  of  Swedenborg  and  of  the 
New  Church,  the  Court  was  led  to  the  opinion  that  the 
doctrines  of  Swedenborg  and  the  New  Church  are  immoral 
and  repugnant  to  the  law  of  the  land.  The  decision  of  the 
Lancaster  Court,  and  a  second  decision  of  the  same  Court 
dismissing  exceptions,  so  characterized  the  teachings  of 
Swedenborg  and  the  New  Church,  and  brought  the  Con- 
vention under  the  same  condemnation  as  the  Academy, 
with  the  possible  exception  that  the  Convention  may  not 
teach  all  the  doctrines  of  Swedenborg.  It  may  be  needless 
to  quote  the  language  of  the  decisions  which  were  sent 
broadcast  over  the  land,  inasmuch  as  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Pennsylvania  has  now  (June  22, 1909),  announced  its  de- 
cision that  the  decree  of  the  lower  Court  must  be  reversed. 

The  experience  in  the  Kramph  case,  however,  showed 
the  necessity  for  the  General  Convention  to  make  clear  the 
stand  of  the  New  Church  for  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and 
purity  of  life,  and  to  disclaim  the  Academy  teaching  as  not 
the  true  interpretation  of  the  doctrine.  Such  a  declara- 
tion is  due  to  the  Church  and  to  the  public.  The  fore- 
going Declaration  was  therefore  adopted  by  the  General 
Convention,  and  the  General  Council  recommends  that 
it  be  adopted  also  by  the  several  Associations  and  Societies 
of  the  Church. 


A  Statement  of  the  Doctrine  of   Sweden- 

borg    and    the    New    Church 

Concerning  Marriage  and 

the  Sins  Against 

Marriage 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE  SINS  AGAINST 
MARRIAGE 


I. 

The   Divine   Origin   and   Spiritual  Nature   of 
Marriage 19 

The  protecting  power  of  true  marriage 22 

True  marriage  eternal    23 


II. 

The  Divine  Law  of  Purity 25 

To  think  evils  allowable  is  to  do  them 28 

Ability  to  keep  the  commandment 30 

The  Lord's  perfect  victory  over  evil 31 

Man  has  power  from  the  Lord  to  shun  evil 32 

Not  difficult  to  live  the  life  of  heaven 35 


m. 

Marriage  as  a  Natural  and  Civil  Institution...  37 

Recognition  of  the  civil  law    38 

Coldness  and  separations 39 

Divorce  for  one  cause  only   41 

Polygamy  is  lasciviousness 42 


i8 


IV. 

''The  Pleasures  of  Iksanity  Pertaining  to  Scor- 

TATORY  Love" 44 

Quality  seen  by  contrast 44 

Scortatory  love  the  opposite  of  marriage  love 46 

Degrees  of  evil 49 

The  permission  of  evil 50 

The  evil  of  fornication  52 

"  Intermediates" 55 

Our  opportunity  with  the  young 59 

The  evil  of  concubinage 60 

The  evil  of  adultery   63 

The  Lord  the  Judge 65 

Soundness  of  the  doctrine    67 

The  gospel  for  the  New  Church 69 


19 


The  Divine  Origin  and  Spiritual  Nature  of 
Marriage. 

The  revelations  made  by  the  Lord  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  for  the  establishment  of 
the  New  Church  spoken  of  in  Revelation  xxi.  2,  contain 
many  new  and  wonderful  statements  regarding  the  Divine 
origin,  the  holiness,  the  purity,  and  the  spiritual  use  of 
marriage.  These  statements  are  to  be  found  in  the  work 
on  "Marriage  Love,"  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1768,  and 
in  great  abundance  in  other  writings  of  the  Chiu-ch.  They 
teach  that  marriage  is  the  highest,  the  hoUest,  the  most 
intimate,  and  the  most  enduring  relation  into  which  finite 
beings  can  enter;  that  it  derives  its  origin  from  the  Lord, 
not  only  because  He  instituted  it  in  the  beginning,  but  be- 
cause it  is  from  Him,  being  derived  from  the  union  or 
marriage  of  love  and  wisdom  in  Him;  and  that  it  also  repre- 
sents the  union  of  the  Lord  and  the  church,  the  Lord  being 
called  in  Scripture  the  husband,  and  the  church  the  bride 
or  wife.  The  sacred  use  of  marriage  is  also  shown  not 
only  in  the  continuance  and  increase  of  the  human  race, 
but  also  in  the  salvation  of  human  souls  and  the  perfecting 
of  character;  for  the  true  husband  no  longer  loves  himself 
for  his  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  his  wife;  and  the  wife 
no  longer  loves  her  womanly  qualities  and  abilities  for  her 
own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  her  husband,  the  power  of 
self-love  being  thereby  broken,  so  that  a  pure  and  unselfish 
love  can  take  its  place. 

Being  Divine  in  its  origin  and  spiritual  in  its  nature, 


20 


true  marriage  makes  one  with  genuine  religion.  The  depth 
and  happiness  of  marriage  increase  as  the  married  partners 
grow  in  spiritual  life.  Their  love  for  each  other  and  their 
love  for  the  Lord  increase  together.  On  the  other  hand, 
no  deep  marriage  is  possible  in  an  irreligious  life,  in  which 
husband  and  wife  live  and  meet  only  on  the  plane  of  worldly 
interests;  still  less  when  they  are  actuated  by  self-love. 

The  religious  character  and  the  sacredness  of  true  marriage 
are  made  clear  in  the  following  passage  from  the  early  pages 
of  the  work  on  "Marriage  Love": — 

There  is  true  marriage  love;  which  is  so  rare  at  the  present 
day  that  what  it  is  is  not  known,  and  scarcely  is  it  known 
to  exist.  .  .  . 

But  none  come  into  this  love,  or  can  be  in  it,  except 
those  who  go  to  the  Lord  and  love  the  truths  and  do  the 
goods  of  the  church.  .  .  . 

The  reason  why  none  can  be  in  true  marriage  love  except 
those  who  receive  it  from  the  Lord,  —  who  are  those  that 
go  directly  to  Him  and  from  Him  live  the  life  of  the  church, 
—  is  that  this  love,  viewed  from  its  origin  and  its  corre- 
spondence, is  celestial,  spiritual,  holy,  pure  and  clean,  be- 
yond every  love  that  exists  among  the  angels  of  heaven 
and  among  the  men  of  the  church,  as  was  shown  above  at 
n.  64,  and  these  its  attributes  can  be  given  to  those  only 
who  are  conjoined  with  the  Lord  and  are  consociated  by 
Him  with  angels  of  heaven.  For  these  shun  loves  outside 
of  marriage,  which  are  conjunctions  with  others  than  one's 
own  consort,  as  they  would  flee  from  ruin  of  the  soul  and 
from  the  lakes  of  hell;  and  so  far  as  consorts  shun  such 
conjunctions  even  as  to  the  lusts  of  the  will  and  intentions 
therefrom,  is  the  love  purified  in  them,  and  gradually  be- 
comes spiritual,  —  first  while  they  live  on  earth,  and  after- 
wards in  heaven.  No  love  either  with  men  or  angels  can 
ever  become  pure,  —  not  even  this  love.  But  as  the  Lord 
primarily  regards  the  intention,  which  is  of  the  will,  in  so 
far  as  a  man  is  in  this  intention  and  perseveres  in  it,  he  is 
introduced  into  and  gradually  progresses  in  its  purity  and 


31 

holiness.  .  .  .  The  reason  why  those  who  love  the  truths 
of  the  church  and  do  its  goods  come  into  this  love,  and 
can  abide  in  it  is,  that  such  and  no  others  are  received  by 
the  Lord;  for  they  are  in  conjunction  with  Him,  and  thereby 
can  be  kept  by  Him  in  this  love.  (Marriage  Love,  57,  71, 
72.) 

See  also  this  passage  from  the  "Heavenly  Arcana": — 

Few  know  what  the  origin  of  marriage  love  is.  Those 
who  think  from  the  world  believe  that  it  is  from  nature; 
but  those  who  think  from  heaven  believe  that  it  is  from 
the  Divine  in  heaven. 

True  marriage  love  is  a  union  of  two  minds,  which  is 
a  spiritual  union;  and  all  spiritual  union  descends  from 
heaven,  from  which  it  follows  that  true  marriage  love  is  from 
heaven,  and  that  its  first  esse  is  from  the  marriage  of  good 
and  truth  in  heaven.  The  marriage  of  good  and  truth  in 
heaven  is  from  the  Lord;  therefore  in  the  Word  the  Lord 
is  called  the  Bridegroom  and  Husband,  while  heaven  and 
the  church  are  called  the  bride  and  wife;  and  also  heaven 
is  compared  to  a  marriage. 

From  this  it  is  plain  that  true  marriage  love  is  the  union 
of  two  as  to  interiors,  which  pertain  to  thought  and  will, 
and  thus  to  truth  and  good,  truth  pertaining  to  the  thought 
and  good  to  the  will.  For  he  who  is  in  true  marriage  love 
loves  what  the  other  thinks  and  wills;  thus  also  loves  to 
think  and  will  like  the  other,  consequently  to  be  united 
to  the  other  and  to  become  as  one  man.  This  is  what  is 
meant  by  the  Lord's  words  in  Matthew:  "And  they  twain 
shall  be  one  flesh,  therefore  they  are  no  more  twain,  but 
one  flesh."     (xix.  4-6;  Gen.  ii.  24.) 

The  enjoyment  of  true  marriage  love  is  internal  because 
it  is  of  minds,  and  therefrom  is  also  external,  or  of  bodies. 
But  the  enjoyment  of  love  not  of  true  marriage  is  only  ex- 
ternal enjoyment  without  internal,  which  is  of  bodies,  not 
of  minds.  This  latter  enjoyment  is  earthly,  mostly  like 
that  of  animals,  and  therefore  in  time  perishes;  but  the 
former  enjoyment  is  heavenly,  as  that  of  men  should  be, 
and  therefore  is  permanent. 


22 

No  one  can  know  what  true  marriage  love  is  and  what 
its  enjoyment,  unless  he  be  in  the  good  of  love  and  in  the 
truths  of  faith  from  the  Lord;  since,  as  just  said,  true  mar- 
riage love  is  from  heaven  and  from  the  marriage  of  good 
and  truth  there. 

From  the  marriage  of  good  and  truth  in  heaven  and  the 
church  we  may  learn  what  marriages  should  be  on  earth, 
namely,  that  they  should  be  between  two,  one  husband 
and  one  wife,  and  that  true  marriage  love  is  impossible 
when  one  husband  has  several  wives. 

What  is  done  from  true  marriage  love  is  done  from  free- 
dom on  both  sides,  since  all  freedom  is  from  love,  and  both 
have  freedom  when  one  loves  what  the  other  thinks  and  wills. 
From  this  it  follows  that  the  wish  to  rule  in  marriages  de- 
stroys genuine  love,  for  it  takes  away  its  freedom,  thus  also 
its  enjoyment.  The  enjoyment  of  ruling,  which  takes  its 
place,  causes  disagreement  and  sets  minds  at  enmity,  and 
causes  evils  to  take  root  according  to  the  nature  of  the  rule 
on  one  part  and  the  nature  of  the  servitude  on  the  other. 

From  all  this  it  can  be  seen  that  marriages  are  holy,  and 
that  to  do  violence  to  them  is  to  do  violence  to  that  which 
is  holy;  consequently  that  adulteries  are  profane;  for  as 
the  enjoyment  of  marriage  love  descends  from  heaven,  so 
the  enjoyment  of  adultery  ascends  out  of  hell. 

They  therefore  who  find  enjoyment  in  adulteries  can  no 
longer  receive  any  good  and  truth  from  heaven;  hence 
those  who  have  found  enjoyment  in  adulteries,  afterward 
make  light  of  and  also  in  heart  deny  the  things  which  are 
of  the  church  and  of  heaven.  The  reason  of  this  is  that 
the  love  of  adultery  is  from  the  marriage  of  evil  and  falsity, 
which  is  infernal  marriage.  (Heavenly  Arcana,  10167- 
IOI7S-) 

The  Protecting  Power  of  True  Marriage. 

Another  brief  extract  opens  our  eyes  to  the  great  holiness 
and  power  of  true  marriage: — 

True  marriage  love  is  a  source  of  power  and  protection 
against  the  hells,  as  it  is  against  the  evils  and  falsities  that 


33 

ascend  from  the  hells,  and  for  the  reason  that  through 
marriage  love  man  has  conjunction  with  the  Lord,  and 
the  Lord  alone  has  power  over  all  the  hells;  also  because 
through  marriage  love  man  has  heaven  and  the  church; 
consequently  as  the  Lord  unceasingly  protects  heaven  and 
the  church  from  the  evils  and  falsities  that  rise  up  from 
the  hells,  so  He  protects  all  who  are  in  true  marriage  love 
because  such  and  no  others  have  heaven  and  the  church. 
For  heaven  and  the  church  are  a  marriage  of  good  and 
truth,  from  which  is  marriage  love,  as  has  been  said  above. 
And  this  is  why  through  marriage  love  man  has  peace, 
which  is  inmost  jo/  of  heart  from  a  complete  safety  from 
the  hells  and  a  protection  from  infestations  of  the  evil  and 
falsity  therefrom.     (Apocalypse  Explained,  999.) 

True  Marriage  is  Eternal. 

True  marriage,  Divine  in  its  origin,  and  spiritual  in  its 
nature,  is  also  eternal,  for  it  is  a  vital  part  of  the  eternal 
nature  of  each  partner,  and  as  they  live  on  in  heaven  the 
marriage  between  them  deepens  in  blessedness  forever. 
This  teaching,  that  true  marriage  is  eternal,  Swedenborg 
shows  to  be  consistent  with  the  Lord's  saying  to  the  Sad- 
ducees,  that  "  in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage."  The  Lord  was  declaring  to  the  Sad- 
ducees,  who  denied  that  there  is  any  resurrection,  two  things: 
first,  that  there  is  an  eternal  life  beyond  the  grave;  and 
second,  that  the  conditions  of  that  life  are  spiritual  and  very 
different  from  their  gross  suppositions.  In  the  matter  of  mar- 
riage, whether  you  think  of  that  inmost  holy  marriage,  which 
is  each  one's  relation  with  the  Lord,  or  whether  you  think 
of  the  marriage  of  love  and  wisdom  in  each  one's  own  soul, 
or  of  the  spiritual  union  of  husband  and  wife  in  the  eternal 
life  of  heaven,  which  is  a  result  of  this  interior  union, — 
there  is  no  question,  the  Lord  declares,  about  any  of  these; 
the  eternal  relation  with  the  Lord  and  with  others  is  just 
that  for  which  one's  life  on  earth  has  prepared  him.    The 


24 

essential  choice  and  purpose  of  one's  life,  the  determination 
of  character,  and  so  of  eternal  destiny,  is  the  giving  in  mar- 
riage which  is  eflfected  here  and  not  in  heaven.  This  spirit- 
ual marriage  is  consummated  and  fixed  in  the  Hfe  on  earth; 
and  therefore  in  this  sense  there  is  no  marrying  or  giving  in 
marriage  in  heaven.  The  choice  belongs  to  this  world,  the 
development  of  it  to  the  other  world.  (See  Marriage  Love, 
41.) 


25 

II. 

The  Divine  Law  of  Purity. 

Another  view  of  the  sacredness  of  marriage  as  it  exists 
in  heaven  and  as  it  should  exist  among  men  on  earth  who 
live  as  spiritual  men  in  faith  in  the  Lord  and  in  obedience 
to  His  law,  is  gained  from  the  explanations  of  the  command, 
"Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,"  which  are  given -in 
several  places  in  the  writings.  Note  first  that  the  laws  of 
the  Decalogue  are  eternal  laws  and  binding  upon  Christians : 

Let  every  one  take  heed  to  himself,  lest  he  should  sup- 
pose that  the  laws  of  life  are  abrogated,  such  as.  are  in  the 
Decalogue,  ...  for  those  laws  are  confirmed  both  in  the 
internal  and  external  form,  by  reason  that  they  cannot 
be  separated.     (Heavenly  Arcana,  921 1.     See  also  9349.) 

With  reference  to  the  command  forbidding  adultery  we 
quote  first  from  "The  Doctrine  of  Life  for  the  New  Jeru- 
salem," published  five  years  before  the  work  on  "Marriage 
Love": — 

Committing  adultery,  in  the  sixth*  commandment  of  the 
Decalogue,  means  in  the  natural  sense,  not  only  committing 
whoredom  (scortari),  but  also  acting  obscenely,  speaking 
lasciviously,  and  thinking  uncleanly.  But  in  the  spiritual 
sense,  committing  adultery  means  to  adulterate  the  goods 
of  the  Word,  and  to  falsify  its  truths.  And  in  the  highest 
sense,  to  commit  adultery  means  to  deny  the  Divinity  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  profane  the  Word.  Such  are  adulteries 
of  every  kind.    The  natural  man  may  know  from  rational 

♦According  to  the  numbering  used  by  Roman  Catholic  and 
Lutheran  Churches. 


36 

light,  that  to  commit  adultery  means  also  to  act  obscenely, 
to  speak  lasciviously,  and  to  think  uncleanly;  but  he  does 
not  know,  that  to  commit  adultery  also  means  to  adulterate 
the  goods  of  the  Word,  and  to  falsify  its  truths;  and  still  less 
that  it  means  to  deny  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord,  and  to  pro- 
fane the  Word.  Hence  he  does  not  know,  that  adultery 
is  so  great  an  evil  that  it  may  be  called  diaboUsm  itself;  for 
whoever  is  in  natural  adultery  is  also  in  spiritual  adultery, 
and  vice  versa.  That  this  is  so  will  be  shown  in  a  little 
special  work  on  "  Marriage. "  But  they  who  do  not  regard 
adulteries  as  sins,  in  faith  and  life,  are  at  once  in  adulteries 
of  every  kind.  .  .  . 

From  all  this  it  may  be  concluded  and  seen,  without  a 
doubt,  whether  a  man  is  a  Christian  or  not;  yea,  whether 
or  not  he  has  any  religion.  He  who  does  not  regard  adul- 
teries as  sins,  in  faith  and  life,  is  not  a  Christian;  nor  has 
he  any  religion.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  who  shuns 
adulteries  as  sins,  especially  if  on  that  account  he  regards 
them  with  aversion,  and  still  more  he  who  on  that  account 
abominates  them,  has  religion;  and  if  he  be  in  the  Christian 
Church,  he  is  a  Christian.  But  of  these  things  more  will 
be  said  in  the  little  work  on  "Marriage."  In  the  mean- 
time see  what  is  said  on  the  subject  in  the  work  on  "  Heaven 
and  Hell,"  n.  366-386.     (Doctrine  of  Life,   74,   77.) 

We  quote  also  from  "The  True  Christian  Religion, 
containing  the  Universal  Theology  of  the  New  Church," 
which  was  published  three  years  after  "Marriage  Love": — 

In  the  natural  sense,  this  commandment,  "Thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery, "  refers  not  only  to  committing  adul- 
tery, but  also  to  willing  and  doing  obscene  things,  and  there- 
fore to  thinking  and  speaking  lascivious  things.  That 
merely  to  lust  is  to  commit  adultery,  is  evident  from  these 
words  of  the  Lord:  "Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  by 
them  of  old  time.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery.  But 
I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  looketh  on  another's  woman 
to  lust  after  her,  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already 
in  his  heart"  (Matt.  v.  27,  28).  This  is  because  the  lust 
when  it  enters  the  will  becomes  deed;  for  allurement  enters 


27 

merely  into  the  understanding,  but  intention  enters  into 
the  will,  and  the  intention  of  lust  is  a  deed.  But  more 
may  be  seen  concerning  these  things  in  the  work  "  Concern- 
ing Marriage  Love,  and  concerning  Scortatory  Love," 
pubHshed  at  Amsterdam  in  the  year  1768;  which  treats 
"On  the  Opposition  of  Marriage  Love  and  Scortatory," 
n.  423-443;  "On  Fornication,"  n.  444-460;  "On  Adul- 
teries and  their  Kinds  and  Degrees,"  n.  478-499;  "On 
the  Lust  of  Defloration,"  n.  501-505;  "On  the  Lust  for 
Variety,"  n.  506-510;  "On  the  Lust  of  Violation,"  n.  511, 
512.  ".On  the  Lust  of  seducing  Innocences,"  n.  513,  514; 
"On  the  Imputation  of  each  Love,  Scortatory  and  Mar- 
riage," n.  523-531.  These  all  are  meant  by  this  com- 
mandment in  the  natural  sense. 

There  are  many  causes  which  make  a  man  to  seem  chaste, 
not  only  to  others  but  also  to  himself,  when,  in  fact,  he  is 
wholly  unchaste;  since  he  does  not  know  that  when  a  lust 
occupies  the  will  it  is  a  deed  and  cannot  be  removed  except 
by  the  Lord  after  repentance.  A  man  is  not  made  chaste 
by  abstaining  from  doing,  but  by  abstaining  from  will- 
ing because  it  is  a  sin,  when  the  doing  is  possible.  Just 
so  far  as  any  one  abstains  from  adulteries  and  whore- 
doms {scortationibus),  solely  from  fear  of  the  civil  law  and 
its  penalties;  from  fear  of  the  loss  of  reputation  and  thus 
of  honor;  from  fear  of  the  diseases  arising  from  them; 
from  fear  of  the  wife's  upbraidings  at  home,  and  the  conse- 
quent intranquillity  of  life;  from  fear  of  vengeance  of  the 
husband  and  relatives,  or  of  being  beaten  by  their  servants; 
or  because  of  avarice,  or  any  infirmity  caused  by  disease 
or  abuse  or  age  or  any  other  cause  of  impotence;  even 
if  he  abstains  on  account  of  any  natural  or  moral  law,  and 
not  at  the  same  time  on  account  of  spiritual  law;  he  is 
nevertheless  inwardly  an  adulterer  and  a  whoremonger. 
For  he  none  the  less  believes  that  adulteries  and  whoredoms 
are  not  sins,  and  therefore  he  does  not  in  his  spirit  make 
them  unlawful  before  God;  and  thus  in  spirit  he  commits 
them,  even  if  he  does  not  commit  them  in  the  body  be- 
fore the  world;  and  in  consequence,  when  after  death  he 
becomes  a  spirit  he  speaks  openly  in  favor  of  them.  (True 
Christian  Religion,  313,  316.) 


28 

It  is  the  evident  purpose  of  this  which  was  to  be  Sweden- 
borg's  last  message  on  the  subject,  to  enforce  the  truth  that 
the  commandment  forbids  not  technical  adultery  only,  but 
impurity  of  every  kind,  of  act  and  thought  and  will,  and  that 
impurity  in  all  these  forms  must  be  shunned  as  sin  against 
God.  This  is  the  fundamental  and  constant  teaching  of 
the  doctrine  on  this  subject,  and  the  law  of  conduct  of  the 
Church, 

pin  this  final  message  on  the  subject,  Swedenborg  has 
gathered  up  the  work  on  "Scortatory  Love"  by  its  several 
titles*  and  given  it  its  place  in  the  universal  theology,  as 
treating  of  things  forbidden  by  the  Divine  Commandment, 
"Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery";  adding,  "These  all 
are  meant  by  this  commandment  in  the  natural  sense." 
His  meaning  could  not  be  plainer  if  he  had  written  this  as 
an  inscription  upon  the  treatise  on  "Scortatory  Love," 
and  as  a  running  head  on  every  page. 

To  THINK  Evils  Allowable  is  to  Do  them. 

The  teaching  is  often  and  strongly  stated  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Church  that  to  think  with  intention  js  to  do, 
and  that  to  will  evils  or  to  believe  them  to  be  allowable  is 
to  do  them: — 

The  man  who  examines  himself  in  order  to  do  the  work 
of  repentance,  must  examine  his  thoughts  and  the  inten- 
tions of  his  will,  and  must  there  examine  what  he  would  do 
if  it  were  permitted  him,  that  is,  if  he  were  not  afraid  of 
the  laws,  and  of  the  loss  of  reputation,  honor  and  gain. 
In  his  thoughts  and  intentions  do  the  evils  of  man  reside, 
and  the  evils  which  he  does  in  the  body  are  all  therefrom. 
They  who  do  not  examine  the  evils  of  their  thought  and 

♦The  title  "Concubinage"  is  omitted  from  the  enumeration.  It 
was  apparently  unnecessary  to  include  it,  since  fornication  and  con- 
cubinage are  in  essence  one.     (Scortatory  Love,  462.) 


29 

will,  cannot  do  the  work  of  repentance,  for  they  think  and 
will  afterwards  as  they  did  before,  and  yet  to  will  evils  is 
to  do  them.  This  is  self-examination.  (The  New  Jeru- 
salem and  Its  Heavenly  Doctrine,   164.) 

Again,  such  evils  as  a  man  believes  allowable,  even 
though  he  does  not  do  them,  are  appropriated  to  him; 
since  whatever  is  made  allowable  in  the  thought  comes 
from  the  will,  for  there  is  then  consent.  When,  there- 
fore, a  man  believes  an  evil  to  be  allowable,  he  releases  it 
from  internal  restraint;  and  is  withheld  from  doing  it  only 
by  external  restraints,  which  are  fears.  And  because  his 
spirit  then  favors  that  evil,  whenever  external  restraints 
are  removed  he  does  it  as  allowable,  and  in  the  meantime 
continually  does  it  in  spirit.  But  on  this  subject  see  Ihe 
"Doctrine  of  Life  for  the  New  Jerusalem,"  n.  108-113. 
(Divine  Providence,  81.) 

In  regard  to  the  evil  of  adultery  it  is  also  expressly  said: — 

Adulteries  close  heaven  and  open  hell,  and  this  they  do  so 
far  as  they  are  believed  to  be  allowable,  and  are  perceived 
to  be  more  delightful  than  marriages.  (Apocalypse  Ex- 
plained, 982.) 

The  Dragon  in  the  Apocalypse  xii.,  and  the  goats  in 
Matthew  xxiv.  are  those  who  while  they  observe  all  the 
solemnities  of  worship 

do  not  shun  evils  as  sins,  and  although  they  do  not  commit 
them,  they  think  them  allowable,  and  therefore  commit 
them  in  spirit,  and  in  body,  too,  when  they  can.  (Con- 
tinuation of  the  Last  Judgment,  16.) 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God." 
(Matt.  V.  8.) 


3° 


Ability  to  Keep  the  Commandment. 

All  this  makes  it  clear  that  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Church  are  in  full  accord  with  the  searching  words  of  the 
Lord,  "Whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her 
hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart" 
(Matt.  V.  28).  The  teaching  in  regard  to  man's  ability  to 
keep  the  commandments  and  to  resist  evil  in  the  Lord's 
strength  is  equally  strong  and  definite. 

Every  man  is  so  constituted  that  he  is  able  to  shun  evils, 
as  of  himself,  by  the  power  of  the  Lord,  if  he  implore  it; 
and  what  he  does  after  this  is  good  from  the  Lord.  (Doc- 
trine of  Life,  31.) 

All  are  born  men,  and  from  this  the  image  of  God  is  in 
them.  The  image  of  God  is  in  them  in  their  being  able  to 
understand  truth  and  to  do  good.  Their  ability  to  under- 
stand truth  is  from  the  Divine  Wisdom,  and  their  ability 
to  do  good  is  from  the  Divine  Love;  this  power  is  the  image 
of  God,  which  remains  in  the  sane  man,  and  is  not  eradi- 
cated. It  is  from  this  that  he  is  able  to  become  a  civil  and 
moral  man;  and  he  who  is  civil  and  moral  can  also  become 
spiritual,  for  the  civil  and  moral  is  the  receptacle  of  the 
spiritual.     (Divine  Providence,  322.) 

The  whole  doctrine  of  the  Lord,  involving  the  doctrine 
of  redemption,  the  central  and  fundamental  doctrine  of 
the  New  Church,  is  the  confirmation  and  explanation  of 
this  truth  so  briefly  expressed  in  "The  Doctrine  of  Life," 
and  in  "The  Divine  Providence."  The  doctrine  on  this 
subject  is  clearly  set  forth  in  "The  True  Christian  Re- 
ligion " : — 


31 


The  Lord's  Perfect  Victory  over  Evil. 

The  Lord  came  into  the  world  chiefly  for  these  two  things, 
to  remove  hell  from  angel  and  from  man,  and  to  glorify 
His  Human.  For  before  the  Lord's  Advent,  hell  had 
grown  up  so  far  as  to  infest  the  angels  of  heaven,  and  also 
(by  interposing  between  heaven  and  the  world),  to  cut  off 
the  Lord's  communication  with  men  on  earth,  so  that 
no  Divine  truth  and  good  could  pass  through  from  the 
Lord  to  men.  Consequently  total  damnation  thi-eatened 
the  whole  human  race;  and  further,  the  angels  of  heaven 
could  not  have  long  continued  to  exist  in  their  integrity. 
And  therefore,  in  order  that  hell  might  be  removed;  and 
this  impending  damnation  thereby  taken  away,  the  Lord 
came  into  the  world,  removed  hell,  subjugated  it,  and 
thus  opened  heaven;  so  that  He  could  afterward  be  present 
with  the  men  of  the  earth,  and  save  those  who  should  live 
according  to  His  precepts, —  consequently  regenerate  and 
save  them,  for  those  who  are  regenerated  are  saved.  This 
is  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said,  that,  because  all  have 
been  redeemed,  all  can  be  regenerated;  and,  because  re- 
generation and  salvation  make  one,  that  all  can  be  saved. 
Therefore,  what  the  church  teaches,  that  without  the 
Lord's  Coming  no  one  could  have  been  saved,  is  to  be 
understood  in  this  way,  that  without  the  Lord's  Coming 
no  one  could  have  been  regenerated.  As  to  the  other 
end  for  the  sake  of  which  the  Lord  came  into  the  world, 
namely,  to  glorify  His  Human,  this  was  because  He  thereby 
became  the  Redeemer,  Regenerator,  and  Saviour  for  ever. 
For  it  is  not  to  be  believed  that,  subsequent  to  the  Re- 
demption once  wrought  in  the  world,  all  men  have  been 
redeemed  by  that,  but  that  the  Lord  is  perpetually  redeem- 
ing those  who  believe  in  Him  and  keep  His  words.  But 
on  these  points  more  may  be  seen  in  the  chapter  on  Re- 
demption. 

In  the  combats  or  temptations  of  men  the  Lord  works 
a  particular  redemption,  as  He  wrought  redemption  that 
embraced  the  whole  when  in  the  world.  The  Lord  in  the 
world,  by  means  of  combats  and  temptations,  glorified  His 
Human,   that  is,   made  it  Divine;  in  like  manner   now, 


3a 

with  a  man  individually,  while  he  is  in  temptations;  in 
these  the  Lord  fights  for  him,  and  conquers  the  evil  spirits 
who  are  infesting  him;  and  after  temptation  glorifies  him, 
that  is,  renders  him  spiritual.  After  His  universal  redemp- 
tion, the  Lord  reduced  to  order  all  things  in  heaven  and 
in  hell;  with  man  after  temptation  He  does  in  like  manner, 
that  is  to  say,  He  reduces  to  order  all  the  things  that  are  of 
heaven  and  the  church  with  the  man.  After  redemption 
the  Lord  established  a  new  church;  in  like  manner  also 
He  establishes  those  things  which  are  of  the  church  with 
the  man,  and  makes  him  to  be  a  church  in  particular. 
After  redemption  the  Lord  gifted  those  who  believed  in 
Him  with  peace;  for  He  said,  "Peace  I  leave  with  you, 
My  peace  I  give  unto  you;  not  as  the  world  giveth,  give 
I  unto  you"  (John  xiv.  27);  so  likewise  He  gives  to  man 
after  temptation  to  feel  peace,  that  is,  gladness  of  mind  and 
consolation.  From  which  it  is  manifest  that  the  Lord 
is  the  Redeemer  for  ever.     (True  Christian  Religion,  579, 

599-) 

We  are  given  an  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  Lord's  re- 
deeming work,  the  completeness  of  His  victories,  and  the 
sufficiency  of  His  help,  in  many  tender  passages  in  the 
"Heavenly  Arcana,"  of  which  we  quote  but  one: — 

The  Lord  from  earliest  boyhood  even  to  the  last  hour 
of  His  life  in  the  world,  was  assaulted  by  all  the  hells; 
against  which  He  continually  fought,  and  subjugated  and 
overcame  them;  and  this  solely  from  love  towards  the 
whole  human  race.  And  because  this  love  was  not  human 
but  Divine,  and  as  the  love  is  so  is  the  temptation,  it  can 
be  seen  how  grievous  the  combats  were,  and  how  great 
the  ferocity  on  the  part  of  the  hells.  That  all  this  was  so, 
I  know  of  a  certainty.     (Heavenly  Arcana,  1690.) 

Man  has  Power  from  the  Lord  to  Shun  Evil. 

It  remains  to  learn  how  fully  the  Lord's  redeeming  power 
is  made  available  to  men  —  of  their  helplessness  without 
Him,  but  of  their  ability  to  shun  all  evil  in  His  strength. 


33 

Man  has  power  against  evil  and  falsity  from  the  Divine 
omnipotence,  and  has  wisdom  concerning  good  and  truth 
from  the  Divine  omniscience,  and  is  in  God  from  the  Divine 
omnipresence,  just  to  the  extent  that  he  lives  according  to 
Divine  order. 

The  reason  that  man  has  power  against  evil  and  falsity 
from  the  Divine  omnipotence  so  far  as  he  lives  according 
to  Divine  order,  is  because  no  one  can  resist  evils  and  the 
falsities  therefrom  but  God  alone.  .  .  .  From  this  it  follows 
that  unless  a  man  lives  according  to  Divine  order,, that  is, 
unless  he  acknowledges  God  and  His  omnipotence,  and 
from  that  omnipotence  protection  against  hell;  and,  also, 
unless  man  on  his  part  fights  with  the  evil  in  himself  (for 
both  of  these  pertain  to  the  Divine  order),  he  must  needs 
be  immersed  and  overwhelmed  in  hell.  (True  Christian 
Religion,  68.) 

In  the  previous  article  the  evils  that  must  be  shunned 
were  enumerated  from  the  Decalogue.  But  many,  I  know, 
think  in  their  heart  that  no  one  can  shun  these  of  himself, 
because  man  is  bom  in  sins  and  has  therefore  no  power  of 
himself  to  shun  them.  But  let  such  know  that  any  one 
who  thinks  in  his  heart  that  there  is  a  God,  that  the  Lord 
is  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  the  Word  is  from  Him 
and  is  therefore  holy,  that  there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell,  and 
that  there  is  a  life  after  death,  has  the  ability  to  shun  these 
evils.  But  he  who  despises  these  truths  and  casts  them 
out  of  his  mind,  and  still  more  he  who  denies  them,  is  not 
able.  For  how  can  one  who  never  thinks  about  God  think 
that  anything  is  a  sin  against  God?  And  how  can  one 
who  never  thinks  about  heaven,  hell,  and  the  life  after  death, 
shun  evils  as  sins?  Such  a  man  does  not  know  what  sin 
is.  Man  is  placed  in  the  middle  between  heaven  and  hell. 
Out  of  heaven  goods  unceasingly  flow  in,  and  out  of  hell 
evils  unceasingly  flow  in;  and  as  man  is  between,  he  has 
freedom  to  think  what  is  good  or  to  think  what  is  evil. 
This  freedom  the  Lord  never  takes  away  from  anyone,  for 
it  belongs  to  his  life,  and  is  the  means  of  his  reformation. 
So  far,  therefore,  as  man  from  this  freedom  has  the  thought 
and  desire  to  shun  evils  because  they  are  sins,  and  prays  to 
the  Lord  for  help,  so  far  does  the  Lord  take  them  away 
and  give  man  the  ability  to  refrain  from  them  as  if  of  him- 
self, and  then  to  shun  them.     (Apocalypse  Explained,  936.) 


34 

[When  a  man  by  self-examination  sees  the  quality  of  his 
will];  and  knows  what  sin  is,  if  he  implores  the  Lord's  aid, 
he  is  able  to  cease  willing  it,  to  shun  it,  and  afterwards  to 
act  against  it;  if  not  freely,  still  to  coerce  it  by  combat,  and 
at  length  to  hold  it  in  aversion  and  abominate  it;  and  then, 
and  not  before,  he  perceives  and  he  also  feels  that  evil  is 
evil  and  that  good  is  good.     (Divine  Providence,  278.) 

Who  that  reads  the  Word  and  has  any  religion,  does 
not  know  that  evils  are  sins?  The  Word  teaches  this, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  and  this  is  the  whole  of 
religion.  Evils  are  called  sins  from  the  fact  that  they  are 
contrary  to  the  Word,  and  contrary  to  religion. 

Who  does  not  know  that  no  one  can  shun  evils  as  sins 
unless  as  of  himself?  Who  can  repent  otherwise?  Does 
not  a  man  say  within  himself,  "  This  I  do  not  will.  From 
doing  this  I  will  refrain.  Nay,  whenever  the  evil  returns 
I  will  fight  against  it  and  conquer  it"?  And  yet  no  one 
speaks  thus  within  himself  unless  he  believes  in  God. 
.  .  .  But  he  who  believes  in  God  says  also  within  himself, 
"Through  God  I  shall  conquer  it."  And  he  supplicates, 
and  prevails.  This  is  not  denied  to  any  one,  but  is  granted; 
for  the  Lord  is  in  continual  efiFort,  from  His  Divine  Love, 
to  reform  and  regenerate  man,  and  so  to  purify  him  from 
evils.  And  when  the  man  also  desires  and  intends  it,  this 
perpetual  effort  of  the  Lord  becomes  an  act.  Thus  and 
no  otherwise  does  a  man  receive  power  to  resist  evils  and 
fight  against  them. 

Man  as  to  his  proprium  is  nothing  but  evil,  and  is  bom 
into  it  from  his  parents.  But  means  are  provided  by  the 
Lord  that  he  may  not  therefore  perish.  .  .  .  When  he 
shuns  evils  as  sins  he  fights  against  them  because  they  are 
contrary  to  the  Lord,  and  against  His  Divine  Laws,  and 
then  he  prays  to  the  Lord  for  help  and  for  power  to  resist 
them  —  which  power  supplicated  is  never  denied.  (Doc- 
trine of  Charity,  143,  144,  146.) 

Many  strong  passages  could  be  quoted  declaring  the 
Divine  power  to  resist  evil  which  is  with  us  in  the  Holy 
Word:— 


35 

In  the  outmosts  of  the  Word,  which  constitute  the  sense 
of  its  letter,  are  all  things  of  Divine  truth  and  of  Divine 
good,  even  from  their  firsts.  And  as  all  things  of  Divine 
truth  and  Divine  good  are  together  in  their  outmost,  which 
is  the  sense  of  the  letter  of  the  Word,  there  evidently  is  the 
power  of  Divine  truth,  yea,  the  omnipotence  of  the  Lord 
in  saving  man.  For  when  the  Lord  operates  He  operates 
not  from  first  things  through  mediates  into  outmosts,  but 
from  first  things  through  outmosts  and  thus  into  mediates. 
.  .  .  The  power  of  the  Word  in  the  sense  of  the  letter  is  the 
power  to  open  heaven,  whereby  communication  and  con- 
junction are  effected,  and  also  the  power  to  fight  against 
falsities  and  evils,  thus  against  the  hells.  A  man  who  is 
in  genuine  truths  from  the  sense  of  the  letter  of  the*  Word 
can  disperse  and  scatter  the  whole  diabolical  crew  and  their 
devices  in  which  they  place  their  power,  which  are  in- 
numerable, and  this  in  a  moment,  merely  by  careful  thought 
and  an  effort  of  the  will.  In  brief,  in  the  spiritual  world 
nothing  can  resist  genuine  truths  confirmed  from  the  sense  of 
the  letter  of  the  Word.     (Apocalypse  Explained,  1086.) 

Every  evil  is  forbidden  and  the  door  to  every  heavenly 
good  is  opened  by  the  Ten  Commandments.  If  there 
were  an  evil  not  forbidden  by  a  Divine  command,  no  power 
in  the  universe  could  resist  it,  no  power  could  keep  it  out 
of  heaven;  for  the  commandments  are  the  gates  of  heaven. 
To  recognize  that  an  evil  is  forbidden  by  a  Divine  command 
is  to  acknowledge  it  as  sin.  Then  it  can  be  resisted  in  the 
Divine  strength. 

Not  Difficult  to  Live  the  Life  of  Heaven. 

Add  also  this  practical  teaching  from  "Heaven  and 
Hell":— 

That  it  is  not  so  difficult  to  live  the  life  of  heaven  as 
some  believe,  is  evident  now  from  this,  that  it  is  only  ne- 
cessary for  man  to  think,  when  anything  presents  itself  to 
him  which  he  knows  to  be  insincere  and  unjust  and  to 


36 

which  he  is  inclined,  that  it  ought  not  to  be  done  because 
it  is  contrary  to  the  Divine  precepts.  If  man  accustoms 
himself  so  to  think,  and  from  so  accustoming  himself  ac- 
quires a  habit,  he  then  by  degrees  is  conjoined  to  heaven; 
and  so  far  as  he  is  conjoined  to  heaven,  the  higher  regions 
of  his  mind  are  opened;  and  so  far  as  those  are  opened, 
he  sees  what  is  insincere  and  unjust;  and  so  far  as  he  sees 
these  evils,  so  far  they  may  be  shaken  off  —  for  no  evil  can 
be  shaken  off  until  it  is  seen.  This  is  a  state  into  which 
man  may  enter  from  free-will;  for  who  is  not  able  from  free- 
will to  think  in  this  manner?  But  when  he  has  made  a 
beginning,  then  the  Lord  quickens  all  that  is  good  in  him, 
and  causes  him  not  only  to  see  evils  as  evils,  but  also  not 
to  will  them,  and  finally  to  be  averse  to  them.  This  is 
meant  by  the  Lord's  words,  "  My  yoke  is  easy  and  My  bur- 
den is  light"  (Matt.  xi.  30),  It  is  however  to  be  known 
that  the  difficulty  of  so  thinking,  and  Ukewise  of  resisting 
evils,  increases  in  so  far  as  man  from  the  will  commits  them; 
for  just  so  far  he  accustoms  himself  to  them,  until  at  length 
he  does  not  see  them,  and  afterward  loves  them,  and  from 
the  enjoyment  of  love  excuses  them,  and  by  all  kinds  of 
fallacies  confirms  them,  saying  that  they  are  allowable  and 
good.  But  this  is  the  case  with  those  who  in  early  youth 
plunge  into  evils  without  restraint,  and  then  at  the  same 
time  reject  Divine  things  from  the  heart.  (Heaven  and 
Hell,  533-) 


The  doctrine  quoted  shows  clearly  that  the  Lord  came 
into  the  world  to  save  His  people  from  their  sins.  He  ac- 
complished what  He  came  to  do,  not  in  such  a  sense  that  all 
men  are  saved  whether  they  will  or  no,  but  in  such  a  sense 
that  if  they  will  examine  themselves,  know  their  evils, 
confess  them  before  the  Lord,  pray  to  Him  for  power  to 
refrain  from  them,  and  then  actually  refrain  from  them  when 
they  recur,  the  Lord  will  give  them  the  needed  power.  To 
believe  this,  to  know  it  from  experience,  is  to  believe  in  the 
Lord  in  a  living  sense  as  our  Saviour.  To  refuse  to  believe 
it  and  to  reject  His  power,  is  to  deny  Him. 


37 


m. 

Marriage  as  a  Natural  and  Civil  Institution. 

Knowledge  of  the  Divine  origin  and  spiritual  nature 
of  marriage  puts  us  in  the  true  position  from  which  to  con- 
sider marriage  as  a  natural  and  civil  institution.  While 
marriage  is  essentially  spiritual,  a  union  of  souls,  it  has  also 
its  natural  side.  This  is  perhaps  the  appropriate  place  to 
notice  the  often  quoted  remark  of  Swedenborg  in  regard  to 
the  book  on  "Marriage  Love  and  Scortatory  Love"  in  a 
letter  to  Dr.  Beyer,  that  it  "does  not  treat  of  theology,  but 
chiefly  of  morals"  (Letter  to  Dr.  Beyer,  Documents,  II., 
p.  306).  Swedenborg  has  himself  stated  the  two  principles 
of  his  theology  to  be,  "That  God  is  one,  and  that  there  is 
a  conjunction  of  charity  and  faith  "  (Intercourse  between  the 
Soul  and  the  Body,  20).  In  other  words,  theology  deals 
with  belief  in  God,  and  with  a  life  of  shunning  evil  and  doing 
good  from  Him.  The  book  on  "  Marriage  Love  and  Scor- 
tatory Love"  bears  out  the  description,  that  it  "does  not 
treat  of  theology,  but  chiefly  of  morals,"  in  that  it  in  small 
part  deals  directly  with  the  natiu-e  of  God  and  the  spiritual 
life  of  repentance  and  faith,  which  are  so  fully  treated  of  in 
"The  True  Christian  Religion,"  "The  Doctrine  of  Life," 
and  "  The  Doctrine  of  the  Lord,"  in  chapters  on  "  The  Deca- 
logue," "Repentance,"  and  "Redemption,"  and  deals 
largely  with  moral  aspects  of  the  relation  of  the  sexes. 
Christians  and  regenerating  men  will  find  the  help  they 
need  in  applying  the  commandments  to  their  lives  in  the 
books  that  treat  more  fully  of  the  Lord  and  of  shunning  evil 
in  His  strength;  many  things  in  the  book  on  "Marriage 


38 

Love  and  Scortatory  Love"  are  said  of  those  who  are  with- 
out real  religion  or  theology.  It  is  plain  that  when  the 
book  discusses  conditions  and  evils  which  arise  through 
an  absence  of  religion,  it  is  a  book  of  information  in  regard 
to  things  existing  in  the  world  and  in  hell,  but  is  in  no  sense 
a  rule  of  conduct  for  the  church. 


Recognition  of  the  Civil  Law. 

Proceeding  to  the  externalities  of  marriage,  the  import- 
ance of  due  formaUty  and  religious  ceremony  in  the  conse- 
cration of  marriages,  and  of  a  marriage  covenant,  is  insisted 
on  in  the  doctrines, 

in  order  that  the  statutes  and  laws  of  true  marriage  love 
may  be  known,  and  that  the  consorts  may  be  mindful  of 
them  after  the  nuptials;  also  that  it  may  be  a  restraint,  hold- 
ing their  minds  together  to  rightful  marriage.  For  after 
some  beginnings  of  married  life,  at  times  the  state  before 
betrothal  returns,  in  which  recollection  vanishes,  and  there 
steals  in  a  forgetfulness  of  the  obligations  of  the  covenant  — 
nay,  from  enticements  by  things  unchaste,  to  the  unchaste 
there  comes  about  an  eflfacement  of  it,  and  if  then  it  is  re- 
called to  mind  there  is  censure  of  it.  But,  to  avert  these 
transgressions,  society  has  taken  upon  itself  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  covenant,  and  has  enacted  penalties  against 
those  who  break  it.  In  a  word  the  antenuptial  covenant 
makes  public  the  sacred  obligations  of  true  marriage  love, 
estabUshes  them,  and  binds  libertines  to  obedience  to  them. 
Add  to  this,  that  by  the  covenant  the  right  to  propagate 
children,  and  the  right  of  children  to  inherit  the  goods  of 
their  parents,  is  made  legal.     (Marriage  Love,  307.) 

Repeatedly  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  love  of 
country  and  service  of  country  and  obedience  to  its  laws  are 
presented  as  a  sacred  duty.  Such  love  and  obedience  are 
meant  in  an  important  sense  by  the  conamand  to  16ve  our 


39 

neighbor,  for  our  country  is  more  our  neighbor  than  an 
individual.  But  not  only  are  the  civil  laws  to  be  obeyed 
because  they  are  necessary  to  natural  welfare,  but  because 
an  orderly  life  of  obedience  to  civil  law  is  the  receptacle  and 
foundation  of  spiritual  life.  The  civil  contract  of  marriage 
is  to  be  strictly  observed  because  it  is  essential  to  society 
and  to  the  protection  of  family  and  home,  but  the  contract 
is  the  more  sacred  because  it  is  the  basis  of  the  deepest 
spiritual  development  and  happiness.  (True  .  Christian 
Religion,  414;  Divine  Providence,  322.) 

In  its  treatment  of  sexual  evils  the  doctrine  refers  again 
to  the  civil  law  and  the  necessity  for  the  strict  enforcement 
of  the  law  in  the  punishment  of  crime  (Scortatory  Love, 
486,  489).  And  where  human  discretion  is  to  be  exercised 
it  shows  that  this  belongs  rather  to  the  civil  law  as  the  larger, 
calmer  human  judgment,  than  to  the  individual  judgment 
of  one  under  the  influence  of  excited  natural  desire.  (Ad- 
versaria, 624,  on  the  command,  "Thou  shalt  not  commit 
adultery, "  quoted  on  pp.  66,  67  of  this  pamphlet.) 

Coldness  and  Separations. 

Already,  at  the  chapter  on  "The  Causes  of  Coldnesses, 
Separations,  and  Divorces,"  we  are  descending  from  the 
elevated  plane  of  true  spiritual  marriage,  and  are  beginning 
the  consideration  of  relations  among  those  with  whom  the 
essence  of  true  marriage,  namely,  true  religion,  is  lacking. 
"Where  there  is  no  religion  there  is  no  marriage  love:  and 
where  this  is  not,  there  is  coldness"  (Marriage  Love,  239). 
From  coldnesses  come  separations  (234).  The  principal 
causes  of  coldnesses  are  showu  to  be  a  lack  of  true  religion 
in  one  or  both  partners.  Other  external  causes  of  coldness 
are  also  considered. 

Then  follows  a  brief  enumeration  of  the  causes  of  sep- 


40 

aration;  and  for  a  fuller  enumeration  of  these  we  are  re- 
ferred to  the  chapter  on  "Concubinage"  in  the  treatise 
on  "  Scortatory  Love. "  By  separation  is  meant  separation 
from  the  bed  or  from  the  house.  The  causes  given  in 
the  brief  enumeration  are,  vitiated  states  of  mind  (252), 
and  vitiated  states  of  body  (253),  and  impotence  known 
before  marriage  (254).  In  the  fuller  enumeration  the 
causes  of  separation  are  classified  as  "legitimate,  just, 
and  truly  weighty  causes."  The  just  causes  coincide 
with  the  vitiated  states  of  mind  and  body  in  the  shorter 
enumeration  which  were  there  called  legitimate,  with  the 
explanation  that  "by  legitimate  causes  here  are  not  meant 
judical  causes  but  legitimate  in  respect  to  the  other  partner" 
(252).  To  these  just  causes  the  fuller  enumeration  adds 
on  the  one  hand,  causes  of  separation  which  are  legitimate 
in  the  sense  that  they  are  causes  which  give  legal  ground 
for  divorce  (468,  470);  and  on  the  other  hand,  "truly 
weighty  causes"  which  are  perverse  habits  of  Hfe  (471-474). 
The  doctrine  is  not  intended  to  encourage  separation  for 
insignificant  reasons.  The  vitiated  states  of  body  which 
give  ground  for  separation  are  defined  as  "diseases  by 
which  the  whole  body  is  infected  to  such  a  degree  as  may 
by  contagion  induce  fatal  results"  (470).  In  discussing 
the  weighty  causes  for  separation,  warning  is  given  against 
being  deceived  by  causes  which  only  seem  weighty  but  are 
not  really  so.  In  determining  causes  of  separation,  the 
first  appeal  is  to  the  civil  law;  but  in  cases  which  are  not 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil  law,  the  appeal  is  to  the 
rational  judgment  and  conscience  of  the  parties. 

In  these  pages  on  separation  we  have  left  the  considera- 
tion of  marriage  between  two  who  are  imbued  with  a  spirit 
of  true  religion,  and  are  dealing  with  marriages  in  which 
one  or  both  of  the  partners  view  the  relation  in  an  external 
and  worldly  way.    To  a  merely  natural  man  separation 


41 

may  seem  right,  when  to  a  spiritual  man,  with  a  truer 
view  of  marriage,  the  same  conditions  might  not  lead  to 
the  thought  of  separation.  In  a  spiritual  man  such  condi- 
tions call  forth  a  deeper  tenderness  and  solicitude  for 
the  afflicted  partner,  and  separation  cannot  be  thought  of 
apart  from  tenderest  consideration  for  the  other's  good. 
That  we  are  here  on  external  ground,  with  those  who  view 
marriage  in  an  external,  unspiritual  way,  is  further  suggested 
by  the  association  of  separation  with  concubinage,  and  by  the 
reference  to  both  as  things  "permitted"  (276),  a  term  which 
we  shall  presently  consider  and  shall  see  that  it  is  used  in 
relation  to  evil  things  and  not  to  good.  We  must  clasa  the 
separations  treated  in  this  chapter,  at  least  in  part,  with 
that  putting  away  of  wives  of  which  the  Lord  said,  "  Moses, 
because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts,  suffered  you  to  put 
away  your  wives:  but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so" 
(Matt.  xix.  8).  Commenting  upon  these  words  Sweden- 
borg  declares,  "It  is  said  that  it  was  permitted  by  Moses, 
in  order  that  it  may  be  known  it  was  not  permitted  by  the 
Lord."     (Marriage  Love,  340.) 

Divorce  for  One  Cause  only. 

The  sacredness  and  importance  of  the  marriage  covenant 
are  again  insisted  upon  when  the  subject  of  divorce  is  con- 
sidered.   In  regard  to  divorce  we  read: — 

That  the  matrimonial  contract  is  permanent,  to  the  end 
of  life  in  the  world,  is  according  to  Divine  law;  and  because 
it  is  so  it  is  also  according  to  rational  law;  and  thence  is 
according  to  the  civil  law.  It  is  according  to  Divine  law 
that  a  man  may  not  put  away  his  wife  and  marry  another 
except  for  fornication,  as  above  [in  Matt.  xix.  3-10];  it  is 
according  to  rational  law,  because  this  is  founded  upon  the 
spiritual  —  for  Divine  law  and  rational  law  are  one  law. 
From  this  and  that  together,  or  through  this  from  that,  may 
be  seen  in  great  measure  the  enormities,  and  the  destructions 


42 

of  societies,  that  would  come  of  dissolutions  of  marriages 
or  the  putting  away  of  wives  before  death  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  husband.     (Marriage  Love,  276,  468,  255.) 

Here  Swedenborg  is  facing  the  problem  which  confronts 
law-makers  of  the  present  day  when  they  attempt  to  legis- 
late in  regard  to  marriage  and  divorce.  Many  persons  will 
not  live  up  to  the  highest  standards  of  marriage.  What 
shall  be  done?  Shall  sin  be  legalized  by  setting  the  civil 
standard  low,  making  divorce  and  re-marriage  easy?  Or 
shall  the  civil  standard  be  kept  high  in  agreement  with  the 
Divine  standard,  even  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  strict  stand- 
ard is  more  liable  to  be  violated?  The  latter  course  is 
shown  by  Swedenborg  to  be  the  right  course,  because  it  is 
required  by  loyalty  to  the  Divine  law,  and  because  it  is 
essential  to  the  integrity  of  society.  At  the  same  time  he 
recognizes  that  so  strict  a  standard  as  that  of  the  Scripture 
will  be  violated,  and  shows  that  such  restraints  as  are  possible 
must  be  imposed  upon  the  violation.  These  are  considered 
in  their  proper  place. 


Polygamy  is  Lasciviousness. 

A  chapter  on  "Polygamy"  shows  why  polygamy,  which 
was  permitted  in  the  Jewish  Church  and  is  permitted  in  the 
Mahometan  Church,  is  for  Christians  absolutely  condemned. 
It  is  because  marriage,  which  is  true  and  spiritual  and  really 
blessed,  can  exist  only  between  two,  and  only  with  those 
who  know  and  acknowledge  the  Lord  and  live  according  to 
His  commandments.  Polygamy  was  permitted  with  the 
Jews  and  with  Mahometans,  and  could  be  permitted  with 
them  without  the  destructive  effect  which  it  would  have  with 
Christians,  because  they  were  wholly  natural,  that  is,  un- 
spiritual  men.     Polygamy  is  absolutely  inconsistent  with 


43 

spiritual  life.  "  A  polygamist,  so  long  as  he  remains  a  polyg- 
amist,  or  what  is  the  same,  a  natural  man  so  long  as  he 
remains  natural,  cannot  become  spiritual"  (347).  The 
chapter  on  polygamy  has  a  wider  value  because  of  its  clear, 
strong  teaching  that  all  divided  love  is  natural  and  lasciv- 
ious, and  that  marriage  love  alone  is  chaste. 

That  polygamy  is  lasciviousness  is  because  its  love  is 
divided  among  several,  and  is  love  of  the  sex,  —  and  is 
a  love  of  the  external  natural  man,  and  so  is  not  marriage 
love,  which  alone  is  chaste.  That  polygamic  love  is  di- 
vided among  several  is  known,  —  and  divided  love  is  not 
marriage  love,  which  cannot  be  severed  from  the  one  of  the 
sex.  The  love  is  therefore  lascivious,  and  polygamy  is  lasciv- 
iousness. That  polygamic  love  is  love  of  the  sex  is  clear, 
for  it  only  differs  from  it  in  being  limited  to  the  number 
that  the  polygamist  is  able  to  take  to  himself,  and  in  being 
held  to  certain  regulations  estabUshed  for  the  public  good; 
also  in  that  it  permits  the  addition  of  concubines  to  wives. 
And  being  thus  love  of  the  sex  it  is  love  of  lasciviousness. 
Polygamic  love  is  a  love  of  the  external  or  natural  man, 
because  it  is  inscribed  on  that  man;  and  whatever  the  nat- 
ural man  does  from  himself  is  evil,  —  out  of  which  he 
cannot  be  led  except  by  elevation  into  the  internal  spiritual 
man,  which  is  done  by  the  Lord  alone.  And  the  evil  look- 
ing at  the  sex  which  inheres  in  the  natural  man  is  whoredom; 
and  because  this  is  destructive  of  society,  in  place  of  whore- 
dom a  similitude  of  it  was  introduced  which  is  called  polyg- 
amy. All  the  evil  into  which  a  man  is  born  from  his 
parents  is  implanted  in  his  natural  man,  —  and  none  in  his 
spiritual  man,  because  into  this  he  is  born  from  the  Lord. 
From  the  reasons  that  have  been  adduced,  and  from  many 
others  also,  it  may  be  seen  clearly  that  polygamy  is  lasciv- 
iousness.    (345.) 


44 


IV. 


''The  Pleasures  of  Insanity  Pertaining  to 
Scortatory  Love." 

We  must  next  accompany  Swedenborg  in  his  considera- 
tion of  sexual  evils  entirely  outside  the  bonds  of  legal  mar- 
riage. The  reasons  for  treating  this  phase  of  the  subject 
become  apparent  as  we  proceed  in  the  consideration.  They 
are  first,  that  true  marriage  in  its  sanctity  and  beauty  may 
be  seen  more  clearly  in  contrast  with  its  opposites;  and, 
second,  that  the  hght  of  heavenly  truth  may  be  made  to 
touch  the  disorderly  conditions  existing  in  this  world, 
showing  them  in  their  real  hatefulness,  at  the  same  time 
revealing  the  Lord's  mercy  towards  those  in  evil,  and  in- 
dicating even  for  the  most  degraded  the  possibiUty  of  re- 
pentance and  salvation.  As  at  the  Lord's  first  coming  He 
came  to  the  lowest  states  of  human  need,  saying  to  one  taken 
in  adultery,  "  Go  and  sin  no  more,"  so  in  His  second  coming 
the  new  light  and  helpfulness  must  extend  to  the  most  evil 
states.  A  third  reason  for  this  treatise  upon  sexual  evils 
is  to  rebuke  the  Pharisaical  spirit  of  security  in  the  appear- 
ance of  virtue,  and  to  lead  to  a  spirit  of  Christian  mercy  and 
helpfulness  toward  those  outwardly  in  evil. 

Quality  seen  by  Contrast. 

We  are  impressed  at  the  outset  by  the  care  which  has 
been  taken  to  distinguish  true  marriage  and  true  marriage 
love  from  the  impure  relations  and  impure  natural  loves 
which  are  in  greater  or  less  degree  opposed  to  marriage. 
To  make  this  distinction  clear  and  emphatic  the  book  on 


45 

marriage  is  divided  into  two  parts:  the  first,  bearing  as  a 
title,  and  as  a  running  head  at  the  top  of  the  pages,  "The 
Delights  of  Wisdom  Pertaining  to  Marriage  Love,"  and 
the  second  part  bearing  as  a  title  and  as  a  running  head  at 
the  top  of  the  pages,  "Pleasures  of  Insanity  Pertaining  to 
Scortatory  Love."  The  need  for  such  contrast  of  good 
with  evil  to  clearness  of  thought,  and  also  the  need  for  the 
complete  separation  of  the  two  is  fully  stated  by  Swedenborg 
in  the  "Divine  Providence"  :  — 

The  quality  of  a  good  is  known  only  by  its  relation  to 
what  is  less  good,  and  by  its  contrariety  to  evil.  From 
this  comes  all  that  gives  perception  and  sensation,  be- 
cause from  this  is  their  quality;  for  thus  everything  pleasing 
is  perceived  and  felt  from  the  less  pleasing  and  by  means 
of  the  unpleasant;  everything  beautiful,  from  the  less 
beautiful  and  by  means  of  the  unbeautiful;  and  Hkewise 
every  good  which  is  of  love,  from  the  less  good  and  by 
means  of  evil;  and  every  truth  which  is  of  wisdom,  from 
the  less  true  and  by  means  of  falsity.  There  must  be  vari- 
ety in  every  real  thing,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least  of  it; 
and  when  there  is  the  variety  in  its  opposite  also,  from  the 
least  to  the  greatest,  and  there  comes  equilibrium  between 
them,  then'  a  relation  is  estabUshed  according  to  the  de- 
grees on  both  sides;  and  the  perception  of  the  thing  and 
the  sensation  increase  or  diminish.  But  it  is  to  be  known 
that  an  opposite  may  take  away  or  may  exalt  the  percep- 
tions and  sensations;  when  an  opposite  commingles  itself 
with  its  opposite,  it  takes  them  away;  but  when  it  does  not 
commingle  itself,  it  exalts  them;  on  which  account  the 
Lord  most  carefully  separates  good  and  evil  in  man  that 
they  may  not  be  mingled,  just  as  He  separates  heaven  and 
hell.     (Divine  Providence,  24.) 

In  the  present  case  the  distinction  between  the  root  of 
good  and  the  root  of  evil  in  sexual  relations  is  strongly 
presented  in  the  opening  chapter  of  the  Second  Part  of  the 
book,  on  "  The  Opposition  of  Scortatory  Love  and  Marriage 


46 

Love."  In  this  chapter  it  is  shown  that  every  good  has  its 
opposite,  and  that  the  opposite  of  marriage  love  is  adultery. 
It  is  shown  that  the  two  are  opposed  to  each  other  as  hell 
is  to  heaven,  and  heaven  to  hell;  that  scortatory  love  is 
the  source  of  the  impurity  of  hell,  and  marriage  love  the 
source  of  the  purity  of  heaven;  and  that  even  in  this  world 
"those  who  are  in  the  impure  and  obscene  delights  of 
scortatory  love  join  themselves  to  their  like  from  hell;  and 
those  who  are  in  the  pure  and  chaste  delights  of  marriage 
love  are  associated  by  the  Lord  with  similar  angels  from 
heaven"  (Scortatory  Love,  431).  This  contrast  between 
marriage  and  its  opposite  is  also  strongly  drawn  in  "The 
Apocalypse  Explained,"  where  we  read: — 

Who  at  this  day  can  believe  that  the  delight  of  adultery 
is  hell  in  man,  and  the  delight  of  marriage  is  heaven  in 
man;  consequently  so  far  as  he  is  in  the  one  delight  he  is 
not  in  the  other,  since  so  far  as  man  is  in  hell  he  is  not  in 
heaven?  Who  at  this  day  can  believe  that  the  love  of 
adultery  is  the  fundamental  of  all  infernal  and  diabolical 
loves,  and  that  the  chaste  love  of  marriage  is  the  funda- 
mental of  all  heavenly  and  Divine  loves;  consequently  so 
far  as  a  man  is  in  the  love  of  adultery  he  is  in  every  evil,  if 
not  in  act  yet  in  endeavor;  and  on  the  other  hand,  so  far 
as  he  is  in  the  chaste  love  of  marriage  he  is  in  every  good 
love,  if  not  in  act  yet  in  endeavor  ?  (Apocalypse  Explained, 
981.) 

Scortatory  Love  the  Opposite  of  Marriage  Love. 

The  distinction  between  the  good  and  the  evil  in  the 
relations  of  the  sexes  is  made  sharp  and  strong  by  omitting 
at  first  the  consideration  of  certain  milder  forms  of  evil, 
not  deeply  confirmed,  and  setting  in  contrast  the  two  loves 
which  are  the  absolute  opposites  of  each  other: — 

At  this  threshold  it  is  to  be  explained  first  what  is  meant 
by  scortatory  love  in  this  chapter.     The  fornicatory  love 


47 

that  precedes  marriage  is  not  meant;  neither  that  which 
follows  it  after  the  death  of  a  consort;  nor  the  concubinage 
which  is  entered  upon  for  legitimate,  just,  and  weighty 
reasons;  nor  are  the  mild  kinds  of  adultery  meant;  nor 
the  graver  kinds  of  which  a  man  actually  repents.  For 
these  do  not  become  opposite,  and  those  are  not  opposite 
to  marriage  love.  That  they  are  not  opposite  will  be  seen 
hereafter,  when  each  comes  to  be  treated  of.  But  by  the 
scortatory  love  opposite  to  marriage  love  here,  is  meant 
love  of  adultery  when  it  is  such  that  it  is  not  regarded  as 
a  sin,  nor  as  evil,  dishonorable,  and  against  reason,  but 
as  permissible  by  reason.  This  scortatory  love  not  only 
makes  marriage  love  the  same  as  itself,  but  also  ruins, 
destroys,  and  at  length  holds  it  in  disgust. 

The  opposition  of  this  love  against  marriage  love  is  treated 
of  in  this  chapter.  That  it  treats  of  no  other  should  be 
manifest  from  the  chapters  that  follow  concerning  Forni- 
cation, Concubinage,  and  the  different  kinds  of  Adultery. 
(Scortatory  Love,  423.) 

The  evils  which  are  here  at  first  omitted  from  considera- 
tion are  presently  considered  in  their  place  and  are  abund- 
antly shown  to  be  unchaste,  natural,  and  evil,  and  are 
elsewhere  classed  as  scortations: — 

Thus  it  is  with  scortations,  —  whether  they  are  for- 
nications, or  pellicacies,  or  concubinages,  or  adulteries; 
because  they  are  imputed  to  every  one  not  according  to 
the  deeds,  but  according  to  the  state  of  mind  in  the  deeds. 
(Scortatory  Love,  530.) 

Moreover,  while  these  milder  forms  of  evil  are  not  the 
subject  of  this  chapter,  much  that  is  said  in  the  chapter 
throws  light  upon  them  as  well  as  upon  the  more  grievous 
forms  of  evil ;  for  the  impure  natural  man,  the  animal  nature, 
is  in  general  described  and  contrasted  with  the  spiritual  man 
who  alone  is  in  true  marriage  love. 


48 

Scortatory  love  is  opposite  to  marriage  love  just  as  the 
natural  man  in  himself  regarded  is  opposite  to  the  spirit- 
ual man.  That  the  natural  man  and  the  spiritual  man 
are  opposed  to  each  other  —  even  to  the  degree  that  the 
one  does  not  will  what  the  other  wills,  yea,  that  they  fight 
against  each  other,  is  known  in  the  church,  but  as  yet  has 
not  been  explained.  It  shall  therefore  be  shown  what 
distinguishes  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  and  excites  the 
one  against  the  other.  It  is  the  natural  man  into  which 
every  one  is  first  introduced  while  he  is  growing  up,  which 
introduction  is  by  knowledges,  and  cognitions,  and  by 
rational  activity  of  the  understanding;  and  the  spiritual 
is  the  man  into  which  he  is  introduced  by  the  love  of  per- 
forming uses,  which  love  is  also  called  charity.  So  far 
therefore  as  any  one  is  in  this  love  he  is  spiritual,  and  so 
far  as  he  is  not  in  this  love  he  is  natural  —  even  though 
he  be  of  penetrating  genius  and  of  wise  judgment.  That 
this  man  which  is  called  natural,  apart  from  the  spiritual, 
howsoever  it  may  elevate  itself  into  rational  light,  yet 
dissolves  itself  in  lusts,  and  is  actuated  by  them,  is  made 
plain  by  its  ruling  spirit  alone,  in  that  it  is  destitute  of  charity; 
and  he  who  is  destitute  of  this  is  loosed  to  all  the  wanton- 
nesses  of  scortatory  love.     (Scortatory  Love,  426.) 

But  the  delights  of  marriage  love  have  nothing  in  common 
with  the  feculent  delights  of  scortatory  love.  These  do 
indeed  inhere  in  the  flesh  of  every  man  (homo);  but,  in 
proportion  as  the  spirit  of  a  man  is  elevated  above  the 
sensuals  of  the  body,  and  looks  down  from  a  height  upon 
their  appearances  and  fallacies,  these  are  separated  and 
removed.  He  likewise  then  perceives  the  fleshly  delights 
—  first  as  apparent  and  fallacious  delights;  afterwards  as 
lustful  and  lascivious,  which  ought  to  be  shunned;  and 
gradually  as  pernicious  and  hurtful  to  the  soul;  and  finally 
senses  them  as  undelightful,  filthy,  and  nauseating.  And 
in  the  degree  that  he  thus  perceives  and  senses  these  delights, 
in  the  same  degree  he  perceives  the  delights  of  marriage 
love  as  harmless  and  chaste;  and  finally  as  exquisite  and 
blessed.     (441.) 

The  delights  of  marriage  love  are  the  exquisite  dehghts 
of  wisdom  because  none  others  than  spiritual  men  are 
in  that  love,  and  the  spiritual  man  is  in  wisdom,  and  there- 


49 

fore  embraces  no  delights  except  such  as  accord  with  spirit- 
ual wisdom.     (443.) 

The  opposition  between  marriage  love  and  scortatory 
love  having  been  shown,  and  in  general  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  spiritual  and  the  natural,  the  pure  and  the  impvire, 
the  treatise  on  "Scortatory  Love"  proceeds  to  the  considera- 
tion of  these  evils  in  detail. 


Degrees  of  Evil. 

The  same  systematic  order  of  treatment  which  in  the 
treatise  on  "Marriage  Love"  proceeds  from  marriage  in 
heaven  and  the  Divine  origin  and  spiritual  nature  of  marriage 
to  unions  in  which  the  warmth  and  life  of  true  marriage  are 
fading,  to  divorce,  and  to  the  external  contract  and  formality 
of  marriage,  and  even  to  polygamy,  in  this  second  treatise 
on  "  Scortatory  Love  "  proceeds  from  the  milder  to  the  most 
grievous  forms  of  evil  outside  the  bonds  of  marriage.  Near 
the  beginning  of  the  latter  treatise  the  doctrine  of  degrees 
of  evil  is  clearly  stated,  which  is  the  key  to  the  whole  treat- 
ment of  the  subject. 

There  are  degrees  of  the  quality  of  evil,  as  there  are 
degrees  of  the  quality  of  good.  And  therefore  every  evil  is 
lighter,  and  more  grievous, —  just  as  every  good  is  better, 
and  best.  It  is  so  with  fornication, —  which  because  it  is 
lust  and  of  the  natural  man  not  yet  purified,  is  an  evil. 
But  as  every  man  can  be  purified,  so,  in  proportion  as  he 
advances  towards  a  purified  state  his  evil  becomes  a  lighter 
evil,  for  to  that  degree  it  is  wiped  away;  and  so  it  is  with 
fornication,  in  proportion  as  it  advances  towards  marriage 
love,  which  is  the  love  of  sex  purified.  That  the  evil  of 
fornication  is  more  grievous  in  proportion  as  it  advances 
toward  the  love  of  adultery,  will  be  shown  in  the  following 
article.     Fornication  is  light  in  proportion  as  the  man  looks 


so 

to  marriage  love,  because  he  is  then  looking  from  the  un- 
chaste state  in  which  he  is  to  a  chaste  state, —  and  so  far 
as  he  prefers  this  he  is  really  in  it  as  to  his  understanding; 
and  so  far  as  he  not  only  prefers  it  but  loves  it  more,  to  that 
degree  he  is  in  it  also  as  to  his  will,  thus  as  to  his  internal 
man.  And  then  the  fornication  if  nevertheless  he  continues 
in  it,  is  to  him  a  necessity,  for  reasons  to  him  convincing. 
(Scortatory  Love,  452.) 

The  recognition  of  these  degrees  of  evil  is  essential  to  an 
understanding  of  the  Lord's  providence  toward  evil,  and 
His  effort  to  lead  out  those  who  are  in  evil  a  step  at  a  time, 
if  it  cannot  be  done  completely  and  at  once. 

Man  from  his  hereditary  evil  is  always  panting  for  the 
lowest  hell,  but  the  Lord  by  His  Providence  is  continually 
leading  him  away  and  withdrawing  him  from  it,  first  to  a 
milder  hell,  then  away  from  hell,  and  finally  to  Himself  in 
heaven.  This  working  of  the  IDivine  Providence  is  per- 
petual. .  .  . 

The  same  is  done  with  other  evils  in  which  man  is  by 
hereditary  transmission,  as  adulteries,  frauds,  revenge, 
blasphemy,  and  others  like  these;  none  of  which  could  be 
removed  unless  the  liberty  of  thinking  and  of  willing  them 
were  left  to  man,  that  so  he  might  remove  them  as  from 
himself;  which  nevertheless  he  cannot  do  unless  he  ac- 
knowledges the  Divine  Providence  and  implores  that  the 
work  may  be  done  by  it.  .  .  , 

The  Divine  Providence  with  the  evil  is  a  continual  per- 
mission of  evil,  to  the  end  that  there  may  be  a  continual 
withdrawal  from  it.  (Divine  Providence,  183,  184,  296. 
See  also  Heavenly  Arcana,  6489.) 


The  Permission  of  Evil. 

The  doctrine  of  the  permission  of  evil,  referred  to  in  the 
last  quotation,  is  clearly  explained  by  Swedenborg.  The 
Lord  permits  evil,  but  it  is  a  permission  without  sanction. 


SI 

He  suffers  evil  to  exist,  because  it  cannot  be  wholly  prevented 
^^^thout  destroying  man's  freedom  of  will,  which  is^his 
essential  humanity. 

The  laws  of  permission  are  also  laws  of  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence. .  ,  .  When  God  is  said  to  permit,  it  is  not  meant  that 
He  wills,  but  that  on  account  of  the  end,  which  is  salvation. 
He  cannot  avert.  .  .  .  The  Divine  Providence  is  constantly 
moving  in  a  way  diverse  from  and  contrary  to  man's  will, 
continually  intent  upon  its  end;  and  in  consequence,  at 
every  instant  of  its  operation  or  at  every  step  of  its  progress, 
where  it  observes  man  to  be  swerving  from  that  end,  it  guides, 
bends,  and  directs  him  according  to  its  laws,  by  leadinfg  him 
away  from  evil  and  leading  him  to  good.  This  cannot  be 
done  without  the  permission  of  evil.     (Divine  Providence, 

234.) 

The  things  which  are  from  the  Lord  are  either  nearer 
to,  or  more  remote  from  Him;  and  they  are  said  to  be  of  His 
will  {ex  voliintaie  ipsius),  of  His  good  pleasiire  {ex  hene- 
placiio),  of  His  leave  {ex  venia),  and  of  His  p)ermission  {ex 
permissione).  The  things  which  are  of  His  will  are  most 
immediately  from  Him;  those  which  are  of  His  good  pleas- 
ure are  somewhat  more  remotely  from  Him;  those  which 
are  of  His  leave  still  more  remotely;  and  those  which  are  of 
His  permission  are  most  remotely  from  Him.  (Heavenly 
Arcana,  9940.     See  also  1755,  2447.) 

Evil  things  are  permitted;  good  things  are  provided. 
The  difference  is  the  difference  between  the  government  of 
hell  and  the  government  of  heaven.  What  flows  from  hell 
is  by  permission;  what  flows  from  heaven  is  by  providence. 
(See  Divine  Providence,  251,  end.)  Sexual  evils  are  "per- 
mitted" only  as  all  evils  are  suffered  by  the  Lord  to  exist,  to 
withhold  man  or  to  withdraw  him  from  worse  evil,  without 
absolutely  destroying  the  freedom  which  is  essential  to  his 
humanit)'.  The  same  "permission"  which  has  suffered 
polygamy  to  exist  among  the  ancient  Jews,  and  to-day  in 
Mahometan  countries,  and  has  suffered  practices  not  in 


agreement  with  true  marriage  to  receive  social  and  legal 
recognition  in  Europe,  we  may  recognize  in  our  own  lax 
laws  of  divorce  and  re-marriage.  Deplorable  as  all  these 
are,  they  may  have  stood  between  mankind  and  worse  evil. 
This  is  the  meaning  of  "permission"  in  relation  to  the 
subject.  There  are  degrees  of  permission,  as  there  are 
degrees  of  evil,  but  they  are  all  permission  without  sanction. 

The  Evil  of  Fornication. 

The  doctrine  of  degrees  of  evil  is  the  key  to  the  treatise 
on  "Scortatory  Love."  It  explains  the  general  arrange- 
ment of  the  treatise  and  the  treatment  of  each  particular 
subject.  The  principle  of  degrees  which  in  a  passage  previ- 
ously quoted  was  applied  to  the  evil  of  fornication,  is  later 
applied  to  the  evil  of  concubinage  and  to  the  still  deeper 
evil  of  adultery. 

Fornication  is  defined  as  "the  lust  of  a  youth  or  a  man 
with  a  woman,  a  harlot,  before  marriage  "  (Scortatory  Love, 
444).  This  evil  is  milder  or  more  grievous.  Conditions 
are  recited  by  which  marriage  may  of  necessity  be  long  de- 
layed, and  it  is  said  that  under  such  conditions,  "with 
some  men  the  love  of  the  sex  cannot  without  harm  be  totally 
withheld  from  going  forth  in  fornication"  (450).  In  such 
cases  it  is  better  that  the  lust  shall  be  limited  to  one,  in 
which  case  the  relation  is  that  of  pellicacy,  than  that  it 
shall  be  unbridled  and  wandering. 

Thereby  inordinate  promiscuous  fornications  are  curbed, 
and  limited,  and  a  state  of  more  restraint  induced  which  is 
more  related  to  the  life  of  marriage  love.  .  .  . 

There  is  no  approximation  through  pellicacy  to  the 
four  kinds  of  lust  that  are  in  the  highest  degree  destructive 
of  marriage  love,  —  which  are  the  lust  of  defloration,  the 
lust  of  varieties,  the  lust  of  violation,  the  lust  of  seducing 
the  innocent.     (459.) 


53 

The  same  number  declares  that  it  is  indeed  most  impor- 
tant that  the  manly  power  be  reserved  for  a  wife,  and  adds: — 

But  these  things  are  not  said  for  those  who  can  control 
the  surging  heat  of  lust;  nor  for  those  who  can  enter  into 
marriage  as  soon  as  they  are  grown  to  manhood,  and  can 
offer  and  devote  the  first  fruits  of  their  manly  power  to  a 
wife. 


The  chapter  closes  with  the  words,  "  But  it  is  better  that 
the  torch  of  the  love  of  the  sex  be  first  lighted  with  a  wife." 
(460.) 

It  will  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  statement  quoted  in 
regard  to  the  inability  of  some  to  exercise  self-control  (450), 
and  the  similar  statement  in  459,  that  few  can  reserve  the 
manly  power  for  a  wife,  are  directly  connected  with  a 
recital  of  conditions  existing  in  Sweden  and  other  countries 
of  Europe  in  Swedenborg's  day,  where  government  regula- 
tions made  marriage  for  many  impossible  until  the  entire 
period  of  early  manhood  was  passed.  No  doubt  the  danger 
is  greatly  lessened  by  normal  and  wholesome  conditions. 

But,  what  is  more  important,  contrast  the  inability  here 
mentioned  with  the  abihty  which  every  man  has  from  the 
Lord  to  keep  the  commandments  and  to  resist  the  evil  of 
impurity  in  act  and  thought  and  feeling. 

Every  man  is  so  constituted  that  he  is  able  to  shun  evils 
as  of  himself  by  the  power  of  the  Lord  if  he  implore  it. 
(Doctrine  of  Life,  31.) 

A  man  who  is  in  genuine  truths  from  the  sense  of  the  letter 
of  the  Word  can  disperse  and  scatter  the  whole  diabolical 
crew  and  their  devices  in  which  they  place  their  power, 
which  are  innumerable,  and  this  in  a  moment,  merely  by 
careful  thought  and  an  effort  of  the  will.  (Apocalypse 
Explained,  1086.) 

Any  one  who  thinks  in  his  heart  that  there  is  a  God,  and 


54 

that  the  Lord  is  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  the  Word 
is  from  Him  and  is  therefore  holy,  that  there  is  a  heaven  and 
a  hell,  and  that  there  is  a  life  after  death,  has  the  ability  to 
shun  these  evils  [forbidden  by  the  Decalogue].  (Apocalypse 
Explained,  936.) 

He  who  believes  in  God  says  also  within  himself, 
"Through  God  I  shall  conquer  it."  And  he  supplicates, 
and  prevails.  This  is  not  denied  to  any  one,  but  is  granted. 
(Doctrine  of  Charity,  144.) 

There  is  no  inability  with  one  who  acknowledges  the 
Lord  and  keeps  the  commandments  in  His  strength.  Omnip- 
otence to  resist  evil,  the  omnipotence  of  the  Lord's  redeem- 
ing power,  is  with  those  who  acknowledge  the  Lord  and 
shun  evil  as  sin  against  Him.  It  is  only  necessary  that 
the  evil  shall  be  recognized  as  evil,  and  shall  be  shunned  as 
sin,  that  is,  as  forbidden  by  the  Divine  commandment. 
That  fornication,  even  in  its  mildest  form,  is  evil,  and  to 
those  who  know  the  Divine  command  of  purity  is  sin,  is 
abundantly  clear.     As  already  quoted: — 

Fornication  because  it  is  lust,  and  of  the  natural  man  not 
yet  purified,  is  an  evil.  But  as  every  man  can  be  purified, 
therefore,  in  proportion  as  he  advances  towards  a  purified 
state  his  evil  becomes  a  lighter  evil,  for  to  that  degree  it  is 
wiped  away;  and  so  with  fornication,  in  proportion  as  he 
advances  towards  marriage  love,  which  is  the  love  of  sex 
purified.  The  evil  of  fornication  is  more  grievous  in  pro- 
portion as  it  advances  toward  the  love  of  adultery.  (Scor- 
tatory  Love,  452.) 

Fornication  is  lust,  but  not  the  lust  of  adultery.  (448.) 
The  love  of  pellicacy  is  an  unchaste,  natural,  and  external 
love,  while  marriage  love  is  chaste,  spiritual,  and  internal; 
the  love  of  pellicacy  parts  the  souls  of  the  two,  and  conjoins 
only  the  sensuals  of  the  body;  while  marriage  love  unites 
souls,  and  from  the  union  of  souls  unites  the  sensuals  of  the 
body  also,  even  so  that  the  two  are  made  as  one,  that  is, 
one  flesh.     (460.) 


55 

All  fornications  are  scortations :  "  Thus  it  is  with  scorta- 
tions, —  whether  they  are  fornications  or  pellicacies  or  con- 
cubinages or  adulteries"  (530).  They  are  therefore  among 
the  evils  which  "The  True  Christian  Religion,"  316,  and 
"The  Doctrine  of  Life,"  74,  77,  declare  are  to  be  shunned 
as  sins  against  God. 

Fornications  are  expressly  named  among  the  sins  for- 
bidden by  the  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery," 
in  "The  True  Christian  Religion,"  313. 

Nothing  that  is  said  or  can  be  said  of  fornications  can 
change  this  fundamental  truth  that  they  are  evil;  that  they 
are  forbidden  by  the  Divine  commandment  and  are- to  be 
shunned  as  sins;  and  with  every  Divine  commandment  is 
the  Lord's  omnipotence  to  save. 

"Intermediates." 

A  few  other  passages  relating  to  fornication  need  to  be 
considered,  which  speak  of  the  region  or  state  of  "inter- 
mediates," and  of  the  lust  for  fornication  as  intermediate 
between  the  sphere  of  scortatory  love  and  the  sphere  of 
marriage  love: — 

The  sphere  of  the  lust  for  fornication  as  it  is  in  its  be- 
ginning is  intermediate  between  the  sphere  of  scortatory 
love  and  the  sphere  of  marriage  love,  and  forms  an  equi- 
librium. ...  A  man  can  turn  himself  to  whichever  sphere 
he  will.  .  .  .  That  the  sphere  of  the  lust  for  fornication  is 
intermediate  between  those  two  spheres,  and  forms  an  equi- 
librium, is  from  the  fact  that  while  one  is  in  that  state  he  is 
able  to  turn  himself  to  the  sphere  of  marriage  love, —  that 
is,  to  that  love, —  and  also  to  the  sphere  of  the  love  of  adul- 
tery, which  is  to  that  love.     (Scortatory  Love,  455.) 

The  interval  that  these  [the  sphere  of  scortatory  love 
and  the  sphere  of  marriage  love]  form  between  them  is  on 
the  one  side  from  evil  not  of  falsity  and  from  falsity  not  of 


56 

evil;  and  on  the  other  side  from  good  not  of  truth,  and  from 
truth  not  of  good, —  which  two  may  indeed  come  in  contact 
with  each  other  but  can  not  conjoin.     (436.) 

In  other  words,  the  intermediate  state  is  one  in  which  one 
is  able  to  turn  to  marriage  love  or  to  the  love  of  adultery. 
The  intermediate  things  which  are  present  in  this  state  are 
not  indifferent  things,  things  neither  good  nor  evil,  but  good 
things  and  evil  things  not  yet  chosen  and  confirmed.  Forni- 
cation in  this  state  is  an  evil,  but  not  a  confirmed  evil.  It  is 
of  fornication  in  this  state,  "springing  from  a  certain  in- 
stinct of  nature  towards  marriage, "  that  we  read  in  the  last 
lines  of  the  following  passage  from  "Apocalypse  Explained": 

Thus  far  adulteries  have  been  considered;  and  now  it 
shall  be  told  what  adultery  is.  Adulteries  are  all  the  whore- 
doms that  destroy  marriage  love.  Whoredom  of  a  husband 
with  the  wife  of  another  or  with  any  woman,  whether  a 
widow  or  a  virgin  or  a  harlot,  is  adultery  when  done  from 
dislike  or  aversion  to  marriage;  likewise  the  whoredom 
of  a  wife  with  a  married  man,  or  with  a  single  man  when 
done  for  a  like  reason.  Again,  the  whoredoms  of  any  un- 
married man  with  the  wife  of  another,  and  of  any  un- 
married woman  with  the  husband  of  another,  are  adul- 
teries, because  they  destroy  marriage  love  by  turning  the 
mind  away  from  marriage  to  adultery.  The  delights  of 
varieties  even  with  harlots  are  the  delights  of  adultery,  for 
the  delight  of  variety  destroys  the  dehght  of  marriage. 
So,  too,  the  delight  of  debauching  virgins  when  marriage 
is  not  the  end,  is  the  delight  of  adultery;  for  those  who  are 
in  that  delight  afterwards  desire  marriage  only  for  the 
sake  of  debauching,  and  when  that  is  accomplished  they 
loathe  marriage.  In  a  word,  all  whoredom  that  destroys 
the  marriage  principle  and  extinguishes  the  love  of  mar- 
riage is  adultery  or  pertains  to  adultery;  while  that  which 
does  not  destroy  the  marriage  principle  and  does  not  ex- 
tinguish the  love  of  marriage  is  fornication,  springing  from 
a  certain  instinct  of  nature  towards  marriage,  which  for 
various  reasons  cannot  yet  be  entered  into.  (Apocalypse 
Explained,  loio.) 


57 

We  are  given  a  glimpse  also  of  the  lust  of  fornication  in 
its  beginnings,  in  the  explanation  of  the  command,  "Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery,"  in  the  "Adversaria": — 

Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery.  To  commit  adultery 
in  the  proximate  sense  is  to  have  connection  with  the  wife 
of  another,  which  properly  is  called  adultery;  then  also 
with  a  harlot.  .  .  . 

In  an  interior  sense  to  commit  adultery  is  merely  to 
lust  to  get,  if  many  things  did  not  stand  in  the  way,  those 
things  which  the  laws  of  order  in  the  life  of  marriage  for- 
bid; for  every  deed  arises  from  lust,  therefore  he  who  while 
not  committing  the  deed,  yet  desires  in  his  mind  to  obtain 
it,  commits  adultery.  Natural  lust  itself  is  not  sin,  for 
what  enters  from  the  world  through  the  senses,  from  the 
blood  into  the  natural  mind,  from  the  order  and  state  of 
one's  life,  from  the  instigation  of  the  devil,  cannot  be  sin; 
but  when  it  passes  into  consent,  that  is  into  the  will,  and 
thus  goes  forth,  it  is  sin;  and  even  if  it  does  not  go  forth 
when  hindered  by  the  fear  of  many  things,  or  by  impo- 
tence, and  Uke  things,  then  it  is  in  itself  a  deed  accomplished, 
for  it  is  of  the  will.  From  will  a  man  is  examined  as  from 
act,  for  he  would  do  it  if  hindrances  were  removed.  Com- 
pare Matt.  V.  27.  (Adversaria,  618,  621,  on  the  command, 
"Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery.") 

The  importance  of  the  intermediate  state,  and  the  duty 
of  a  man  while  in  that  state  in  relation  to  any  evil,  are  shown 
by  the  statement  already  quoted,  that  while  one  is  in  that 
state  he  is  able  to  turn  himself  to  marriage  love  or  to  adultery. 
Read  the  strong  numbers  of  "  The  True  Christian  Religion" 
on  self-examination  and  repentance  (509-566),  and  the 
very  searching  numbers  of  "The  Divine  Providence"  (275- 
284)  on  the  same  subject,  and  we  see  that  this  intermediate 
state  is  the  proper  theatre  of  this  first  and  fundamental 
work  of  Christian  life.  The  doctrine  is  very  clear  that  with 
those  who  from  acknowledgment  of  the  Lord  have  the  power 


58 

of  self-examination,  the  place  where  evils  should  be  recog- 
nized, condemned,  and  shunned  by  the  Lord's  help,  is  this 
region  of  first  beginnings.  The  duty  of  examination  and 
repentance  extends  not  only  to  evils  actually  done  or  in- 
tended, but  to  all  the  evils  of  natural  inheritance.  In  that 
inner  region  of  beginnings  where  these  come  first  to  recog- 
nition, in  the  region  of  intermediates,  a  man  either  by 
thinking  them  allowable  does  them  in  spirit  and  makes  them 
his  own,  or  by  condemning  them  as  sins  and  fighting  against 
them  gains  power  from  the  Lord  to  resist  and  abominate 
them.  The  following  is  a  single  brief  passage  of  the  doc- 
trine on  this  subject: — 

Evils  cannot  be  removed  unless  they  appear.  This 
does  not  mean  that  man  must  do  evils,  in  order  that  they 
may  appear;  but  he  must  examine  himself;  not  his  deeds 
alone,  but  also  his  thoughts,  and  what  he  would  do  if  he 
did  not  fear  the  laws  and  disgrace;  especially  what  evils 
he  regards  in  his  spirit  as  allowable,  and  does  not  account 
as  sins;  for  these  he  still  does.  .  .  .  [When  a  man  by  self- 
examination  sees  the  quality  of  his  will],  and  knows  what 
sin  is,  if  he  implores  the  Lord's  aid,  he  is  able  to  cease  will- 
ing it,  to  shun  it,  and  afterwards  to  act  against  it;  if  not 
freely,  still  to  coerce  it  by  combat,  and  at  length  to  hold 
it  in  aversion  and  abominate  it;  and  then,  and  not  before, 
he  perceives  and  he  also  feels  that  evil  is  evil  and  that 
good  is  good.  This  then  is  examining  one's  self,  seeing 
one's  evils,  and  acknowledging  them,  confessing  them, 
and^'afterwards  refraining  from  them.  .  .  .  There  are  few 
who  know  that  this  is  the  Christian  Religion  itself.  (Di- 
vine Providence,  278.) 

The  doctrine  of  self-examination  and  repentance  shows 
what  tremendous  importance  attaches  to  our  attitude  to- 
ward evils  while  still  in  their  intermediate  state.  To  think 
them  allowable  is  to  take  them  out  of  the  intermediate 
state  and  confirm  them;  to  condemn  them  as  evils  and  shun 


59 

them,  imploring  the  Lord's  aid,  is  to  conquer  them  and 
be  delivered  from  them. 


Our  Opportunity  with  the  Young. 

One  other  passage  in  the  chapter  on  "Fornication" 
opens  a  line  of  thought  which  we  may  follow  with  great 
profit.  After  speaking  of  immoderate  and  inordinate  for- 
nications which  destroy  marriage  love  and  the  power  of 
perceiving  its  chaste  joys,  the  chapter  says:  "Care  ought 
to  be  taken  by  parents  that  this  may  not  be, —  because  a 
youth  greatly  excited  by  lust  cannot  yet  from  reason  put 
the  cvu-b  upon  himself"  (Scortatory  Love,  456).  The 
doctrine  points  out  to  parents  a  responsibility  which  has 
been  sadly  neglected,  and  the  importance  of  which  we 
are  only  beginning  to  realize.  There  is  no  more  sacred 
duty  which  parents  owe  their  children  than  to  protect  them 
from  the  dangers  of  this  period  of  life  by  wise  and  timely 
instruction,  by  wholesome  occupation  for  mind  and  body, 
by  guarding  them  from  impure  association  and  providing 
wholesome  companionship,  and  by  leading  them  in  these 
early  temptations  to  find  the  strength  which  will  sustain  them 
in  all  temptations.  The  wise  and  faithful  performance  of  this 
duty  by  parents  and  those  who  are  in  place  of  parents, 
strikes  the  evil  at  its  root,  protecting  young  men  and  women 
from  needless  dangers,  and  giving  them  strength  to  meet  the 
dangers  which  must  come.  The  responsibility  which  rests 
upon  parents  and  teachers  by  wise  guidance  of  children  to 
protect  them  from  the  dangers  of  opening  manhood  and 
womanhood  is  indicated  in  the  following  instruction: — 

It  is  known  that  faith  from  love  is  the  essential  means 
of  salvation,  and  thus  is  the  first  principle  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  church;  but  since  it  is  important  to  know  how  a  man 
can  be  in  such  enlightenment  as  to  learn  the  truths  that 


6o 

must  constitute  his  faith,  and  in  such  afiEection  as  to  do  the 
goods  that  must  constitute  his  love,  and  thus  can  know 
whether  his  faith  is  a  beUef  in  truth  and  his  love  a  love  of 
good,  this  shall  be  told  in  its  proper  order,  as  follows:  Let 
him  read  the  Word  every  day,  one  or  two  chapters,  and 
learn  from  a  master  and  from  preachings  the  dogmas  of 
his  religion;  and  especially  let  him  learn  that  God  is  one, 
and  that  the  Lord  is  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth  (John  iii. 
35;  xvii.  2;  Matt,  xi,  27;  xxviii.  18),  that  the  Word  is  holy, 
that  there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell,  and  that  there  is  a  life 
after  death.  Let  him  learn  from  the  Word,  from  a  master, 
and  from  preachings,  what  works  are  sins,  and  that  they 
are  especially  adulteries,  thefts,  murders,  false  witness, 
and  the  others  mentioned  in  the  Decalogue;  likewise  that 
lascivious  and  obscene  thoughts  are  adulteries,  that  frauds 
and  illicit  gains  are  thefts,  that  hatred  and  revenge  are 
murders,  and  that  lies  and  blasphemies  are  false  witness; 
and  so  on.  Let  him  learn  all  these  things  from  childhood 
to  youth.  When  a  man  begins  to  think  for  himself,  which 
is  the  case  after  he  has  grown  up,  it  must  be  to  him  the 
first  and  chief  thing  to  refrain  from  doing  evils  for  the 
reason  that  they  are  sins  against  the  Word,  thus  against 
God,  and  for  the  reason  that  if  he  does  them  he  will  gain, 
not  life  eternal,  but  hell;  and  afterwards  as  he  grows  up 
and  becomes  older  he  must  shun  them  as  damned,  and 
must  turn  away  from  them  in  thought  and  intention.  But 
in  order  to  so  refrain  from  them  and  shun  and  turn  away 
from  them,  he  must  pray  to  the  Lord  for  help.  The  sins 
he  must  refrain  from  and  must  shun  and  turn  away  from 
are  chiefly  adulteries,  frauds,  illicit  gains,  hatreds,  revenges, 
lies,  blasphemies,  and  elation  of  mind.  (Apocalypse  Ex- 
plained, 803.) 


The  Evil  of  Concubinage. 

Concubinage,  which  is  "the  conjunction  of  a  married 
man,  stipulated  for,  with  a  woman"  not  his  wife,  is  also 
said  to  be  one  of  the  intermediates  between  marriage  love 
and  adultery:  — 


6i 

That  marriage  and  adultery  are  opposites  was  set  forth  in 
a  chapter  concerning  the  opposition  of  them;  and  to  what 
degree  and  in  what  respect  they  are  opposites,  can  only 
be  gathered  from  the  intermediates  that  interpose,  of  which 
concubinage  is  one.     (Scortatory  Love,  462.) 

Two  forms  of  concubinage  are  recognized  and  distin- 
guished. "Concubinage  conjointly  with  the  wife  is  de- 
testable"; "it  is  scortation,  by  which  the  marriage  de- 
sire, which  is  the  precious  jewel  of  Christian  life,  is  de- 
stroyed" (466);  to  one  who  practises  this  concubinage 
"  heaven  is  closed, "  and  he  comes  into  "  spiritual  insanity. " 
(464.) 

There  is  also  "concubinage  apart  from  the  wife,"  when 
by  "legitimate,  just,  and  truly  weighty  causes"  a  man  is 
separated  from  his  wife  (467).  What  these  causes  are,  we 
learned  when  we  read  of  separation.  This  concubinage 
apart  from  the  wife,  when  it  is  engaged  in  for  legitimate, 
just  and  truly  weighty  causes  (these  words  used  in  the 
sense  defined),  is  said  to  be  "not  damnable"  (indemne, 
used  in  opposition  to  damnabile);  it  "is  not  unlawful," 
or  "is  not  unpermissible"  {non  sit  iUicUus)  (463,  467). 
Persons  of  the  class  described,  who  are  in  such  concubinage 
may  be  at  the  same  time  in  marriage  love,  "meaning  that 
this  love  may  be  kept  concealed  within  them,  .  ,  .  quies- 
cent, .  .  .  interrupted"  (475).  The  phrase  "not  damn- 
able" exactly  expresses  the  thought;  for  later,  in  the  chapter 
on  "Imputation,"  it  is  abundantly  shown  that  no  leniency 
in  human  judgment  nor  in  the  administration  of  civil  law 
is  advised,  but  that  after  death  the  Lord  will  impute  all 
deeds  according  to  the  motive  (530).  It  is  but  another 
way  of  saying  that  some  sins  can  be  forgiven  by  the  Lord 
who  knows  all  circtunstances  and  the  motives  of  all  hearts. 
It  is  what  John,  the  beloved  Apostle  taught,  that,  while 


62 

"  all  unrighteousness  is  sin, "  "  there  is  a  sin  unto  death, " 
"and  there  is  a  sin  not  unto  death."     (r  John  v.  i6,  17.) 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  phrase  "non  sit  illicitus^* 
quoted  above  does  not  refer  to  civil  law  and  its  obUgations, 
but  to  the  government  of  the  Lord's  Providence  which  con- 
tinually permits  evil  that  it  may  withdraw  man  from  it 
(Divine  Providence,  296);  for  this  reason  the  translation 
"not  unpermissible"  seems  better  than  "not  unlawful." 
This  phrase,  and  the  word  "permitted"  used  of  separa- 
tions and  concubinage,  in  the  chapter  on  divorce  (Marriage 
Love,  276),  recall  the  general  doctrine  of  the  permission  of 
evil,  which  we  have  considered.  In  this  permission  there 
is  no  sanction.  The  Lord  suffers  an  evil  to  exist  when  it 
cannot  be  prevented  without  greater  harm. 

The  teaching  that  there  are  degrees  of  evil  in  concubin- 
age, is  subordinate  to  the  general  truth  that  all  concubinage 
is  evil.  It  is  among  the  loves  outside  of  marriage,  or  con- 
jimctions  with  others  than  one's  own  consort,  which  angels 
shun  "  as  they  would  flee  from  ruin  of  the  soul,  and  from  the 
lakes  .of  hell,"  and  which  are  shunned  by  those  on  the  earth 
"  who  go  directly  to  the  Lord  and  from  Him  live  the  life  of 
the  church. "     (Marriage  Love,  71.) 

Angels  said,  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  think  from 
any  intention  concerning  a  wife  or  woman  beyond  their 
own,  because  this  would  be  to  convert  heaven  into  hell; 
wherefore  an  angel,  whilst  he  only  thinks  of  such  a  thing, 
falls  from  heaven.     (Apocalypse  Explained,  1004.) 

Concubinage  even  in  its  mildest  form  is  among  the  un- 
clean and  lascivious  things  which  the  Divine  command- 
ment forbids  us  to  do  or  to  desire  or  to  think  allowable. 
Like  every  other  evil  which  is  forbidden  by  Divine  com- 
mand, it  is  to  be  shunned  as  sin  against  God,  with  full 
confidence  in  His  power  to  save. 


63 


The  Evil  of  Adultery. 

Under  "Adulteries"  also  the  doctrine  of  degrees  is  ap- 
plied, and  four  degrees  are  distinguished,  "according  to 
which  predications,  inculpations,  and  after  death  imputa- 
tions are  made  respecting  them."  It  is  made  clear  that 
the  degrees  are  not  of  outward  conduct,  which  can  be  seen 
and  recognized  by  men,  but  of  motive,  which  is  known  only 
to  the  Lord;  and  it  is  shown  that  even  in  acts  as  evil  as 
adulteries  there  may  be  in  the  sight  of  the  Divine  Judge 
much  or  little  guilt. 

Adulteries  of  the  first  degree  are  adulteries  of  ignorance, 
committed  by  those  who  do  not  yet  or  cannot  take  counsel 
of  the  understanding  and  thereby  restrain  them.  All 
evils,  and  consequently  adulteries  in  themselves  regarded, 
are  at  the  same  time  of  the  internal  and  of  the  external 
man;  the  internal  man  purposes  them  and  the  external 
man  does  them.  Such  then  as  the  internal  man  is  in 
the  deeds  that  are  done  by  the  external,  such  are  the  deeds 
regarded  in  themselves.  But,  as  the  internal  man  with 
its  purpose  does  not  appear  before  men,  everyone  must 
be  judged  in  a  court  by  his  deeds  and  spoken  words,  ac- 
cording to  the  established  law  and  its  requirements.  The 
inner  sense  of  the  law  ought  also  to  be  considered  by  the 
judge.  But  let  examples  illustrate:  —  If  perchance 
adultery  be  committed  by  an  adolescent  boy,  who  does 
not  yet  know  that  adultery  is  more  evil  than  fornication; 
if  the  same  be  committed  by  a  man  of  extreme  simplicity; 
if  it  be  committed  by  one  who  by  disease  is  bereft  of  clear 
judgment;  or  by  one  who  —  as  is  the  case  with  some 
—  is  at  times  delirious,  and  who  is  then  in  the  state  of 
those  that  are  actually  demented;  or  even  if  it  be  done 
in  insane  drunkenness;  and  so  on;  it  is  evident  that  the 
internal  man,  or  the  mind,  is  in  such  case  not  present 
in  the  external  —  scarcely  otherwise  than  as  in  the  case 
of  the  irrational.  Their  adulteries  are  characterized  by 
a  rational  man  according  to  the  circumstances;  and  yet, 


64 

by  the  same  man  as  judge  the  doer  is  inculpated  and  pun- 
ished according  to  the  law.  But  after  death  their  deeds  are 
imputed  according  to  the  presence,  the  condition,  and  the 
capacity  of  understanding  in  their  will. 

Adulteries  committed  by  such  are  light.  This  is  man- 
ifest from  what  has  been  said  above  without  further  con- 
firmation; for  it  is  known  that  the  character  of  every 
deed,  of  every  thing  in  general,  depends  upon  the  circum- 
stances, and  that  these  mitigate  or  aggravate.  .  .  .  It  is  so 
according  to  the  Divine  law  in  Ezekiel  xviii.  21,  22,  24,  and 
elsewhere.  And  yet  by  man  they  cannot  be  exculpated 
and  inculpated,  or  accounted  and  judged  as  light  or  grievous 
according  to  the  circumstances, —  because  these  do  not 
appear  before  him,  nay,  are  not  within  the  province  of  his 
judgment.  Therefore  the  meaning  is,  that  they  are  so 
accounted  and  imputed  after  death.  .  .  . 

From  these  considerations  it  follows  of  itself  that  such 
deeds  are  not  imputed  except  as  they  are  afterwards  fa- 
vored, or  are  not  favored.  By  imputation  here  is  meant 
attribution,  and  thence  adjudication  after  death,  which  is 
according  to  the  state  of  the  spirit  of  the  man.  But  incul- 
pation by  man,  before  a  judge,  is  not  meant.  This  is  not 
pronounced  according  to  the  state  of  the  spirit,  but  of  the 
body,  in  the  deed.  If  these  did  not  differ,  they  would  be 
absolved  after  death  who  are  absolved  in  the  world,  and 
they  would  be  condemned  who  are  there  condemned;  and 
thus  for  these  there  would  be  no  hope  of  salvation.  (Scor- 
tatory  Love,  486,  487,  489.) 


Even  in  acts  as  evil  as  adulteries,  which  the  civil  law  must 
condemn  and  which  man  himself  must  condemn,  the  Lord 
for  reasons  which  are  not  within  the  province  of  man's  judg- 
ment may  impute  more  or  less  of  guilt.  This  helps  us  to 
understand  what  has  been  said  in  regard  to  the  evils  of 
fornication  and  concubinage,  previously  considered:  a  man 
must  always  regard  them  as  evil  and  forbidden;  the  civil 
law  ought  to  condemn  and  punish  them;  yet  the  Lord  who 
knows  all  may  impute  much  or  little  guilt. 


65 

The  instruction  in  "Scortatory  Love"  next  passes  to  the 
more  grievous  degrees  of  adultery  and  to  forms  of  impurity 
most  utterly  and  fatally  opposed  to  marriage  and  true  mar- 
riage love.  The  diabolical  nature  of  these  evils  is  also  shown 
in  strong  terms  and  in  contrast  with  the  holiness  and  bless- 
edness of  marriage  in  many  places  throughout  the  writings. 


The  Lord  the  Judge. 

To  the  analysis  of  the  evils  opposed  to  marriage  is  added 
a  chapter  on  "  Imputation, "  in  which  it  is  again  expressly 
shown  that  the  final  judgment  of  guilt  or  innocenCe  in  all 
transgressions  of  the  perfect  law  of  purity  rests  with  the 
Lord  alone,  who  alone  can  read  the  inmost  motives  of  the 
heart.  These  are  not  revealed  until  one  comes  into  the 
spiritual  world  at  death. 

The  Lord  says: —  "  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  condemned" 
(Matt.  vii.  i):  By  which  can  by  no  means  be  meant  judg- 
ment of  the  civil  and  moral  life  of  any  one  in  the  world, 
but  judgment  of  his  spiritual  and  celestial  life.  Who  does 
not  see  that  if  one  may  not  judge  of  the  moral  life  of  those 
that  dwell  with  him  in  the  world,  society  would  perish? 
What  would  society  be  if  there  were  no  public  judgments? 
Or  if  one  might  not  form  his  judgment  of  another?  But 
to  judge  what  his  interior  mind  or  soul  is,  thus  what  is  his 
spiritual  state  and  therefore  his  lot  after  death  —  of  this  one 
may  not  judge,  for  it  is  known  to  the  Lord  only;  and  the 
Lord  does  not  reveal  it  until  after  death,  —  in  order  that 
every  one  may  do  what  he  does  in  freedom,  and  that  by 
this  fact  the  good  or  the  evil  shall  be  from  him,  and  thus 
in  him;  and  thence  that  he  may  live  his  own  life  and  be 
his  own  to  eternity.  That  the  interiors  of  the  mind,  hidden 
in  the  world,  are  revealed  after  death,  is  because  it  is  of 
interest  and  of  advantage  to  the  societies  into  which  man 
then  comes,  —  for  there  all  are  spiritual.  That  they  are 
then  revealed  is  plain  from  these  words  of  the  Lord: — 


66 

"  There  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed,  neither 
hidden  that  shall  not  be  made  known.  Therefore  what- 
soever ye  have  spoken  in  darkness  shall  be  heard  in  the 
light;  and  that  which  ye  have  spoken  in  the  ear  in  closets 
shall  be  proclaimed  upon  the  housetops."    (Luke  xii.  2,  3.) 

A  general  judgment  like  this  is  allowable,  "  If  in  internals 
you  are  such  as  you  appear  in  externals  you  will  be  saved, 
or  will  be  condemned."  But  a  particular  judgment  such 
as  — "  You  are  such  in  internals  and  therefore  will  be  saved, 
or  will  be  condemned"  is  not  allowable. 

Judgment  of  man's  spiritual  life,  or  of  the  internal  life 
of  his  soul,  is  meant  by  the  imputation  here  treated  of. 
Who  among  men  knows  which  one  is  a  fornicator  at  heart  ? 
Or  which  a  consort  at  heart?  And  yet  the  thoughts  of 
the  heart,  which  are  the  purposes  of  the  will,  judge  every 
man.     (Scortatory  Love,  523.) 

Imputations  after  death  are  made  according  to  the  quality 
of  the  will  and  understanding  of  every  one.  Thus  it  is 
with  scortations,  —  whether  they  are  fornications,  or  pelli- 
cacies,  or  concubinages,  or  adulteries;  because  they  are 
imputed  to  everyone  not  according  to  the  deeds,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  state  of  mind  in  the  deeds.  Deeds  follow 
the  body  into  the  tomb,  but  the  mind  rises  again.  .  .  .  From 
all  this  there  now  follows  the  final  conclusion: — That  not 
from  the  appearances  of  marriages,  nor  from  the  appear- 
ances of  scortations,  is  it  to  be  determined  respecting  any 
one  whether  he  is  in  marriage  love  or  not.  Wherefore 
"Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  condemned."  Matt.  vii.  i.  (530, 
53I-) 

In  judging  of  the  use  to  be  made  of  this  treatise  on  "  Scor- 
tatory Love,"  it  is  well  to  note  Swedenborg's  own  words 
of  caution  in  the  "Adversaria": — 

Here  indeed  very  many  things  occur  that  ought  to  be 
said  about  adultery,  which  have  relation  to  the  institution 
of  every  society,  then  to  every  state  and  condition  in  man. 
But  because  many  things  here  occur,  they  cannot  be  re- 
lated, for  thus  very  many  would  excuse  themselves.  For  to 
lusts,  etc.,  an  excuse  is  never  lacking,  or  a  pretext;  nor  can 


everyone  weigh  whether  the  excusing  reason  is  legitimate  or 
not;  and  this  is  why  various  laws  have  been  enacted  in  va- 
rious places,  according  to  the  state  of  society  in  general  and 
in  particular.  (Adversaria,  624,  on  the  command,  "Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery.") 


Soundness  of  the  Doctrine. 

The  courage  which  is  not  content  to  dismiss  the  subject 
of  sexual  evils  merely  with  a  sweeping  condemnation,  but 
gives  them  a  calm  and  discriminating  study  in  the  efifort  to 
help  in  their  removal,  is  fully  supported  by  the  enlightened 
judgment  of  our  day.  And  what  Swedenborg  has  written 
in  regard  to  these  evils  will  not  be  misunderstood  if  the  rule 
is  followed  which  must  be  followed  for  the  true  understand- 
ing and  just  estimate  of  every  author  —  if  statements  are 
read  in  their  true  place  and  connection,  and  particular 
teachings  are  seen  in  the  light  of  general  and  fundamental 
truths. 

The  question  of  the  morality  of  Swedenborg's  teaching 
is  answered  when  it  is  shown  that  he  stands  on  the  Divine 
commandment  as  interpreted  by  the  Lord  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  and  declares  it  as  the  law  of  life,  that  all  im- 
purity of  act  and  thought  and  desire  is  evil  and  to  be  shunned 
as  sin;  and  when  it  is  further  seen  that  this  constant  and 
fundamental  truth  underlies  all  his  consideration  of  the 
evils.  To  recognize  degrees  of  evil  is  not  immoral  when 
they  all  are  condemned  as  evil.  Even  if  one  should  dififer 
from  Swedenborg  in  his  classification  of  evils  he  must 
acknowledge  a  teaching  to  be  moral  which  holds  constantly 
that  they  all  are  evils  and  to  be  shunned  as  sins. 

The  teaching  of  Swedenborg  uniformly  sustains  the 
authority  of  the  civil  law.  In  relation  to  transgressions 
of  the  laws  of  marriage  and  purity  the  civil  law  itself  con- 
firms the  soundness  of  his  position,  when  it  condemns  all 


68 

such  transgressions  but  penalizes  them  in  lesser  and  greater 
degrees. 

The  conception  of  marriage  presented  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  New  Church  is  the  highest  and  purest  that  the  world 
has  known.  As  the  Lord's  teaching  in  regard  to  marriage 
at  His  first  coming  was  far  above  the  gross  conceptions  of 
the  Jewish  Age,  so  it  should  be  expected  that  at  His  second 
coming  He  would  reveal  still  more  the  inward  holiness 
of  the  relation  which  is  the  type  of  regeneration  and  of 
union  with  Him.  The  commandment  of  the  Decalogue 
is  not  set  aside;  it  is  given  a  fuller  meaning  and  a  more 
searching  appUcation.  The  teaching  regarding  the  evils 
of  impurity  shows  their  odiousness  more  clearly  in  contrast 
with  the  blessing  of  true  marriage.  It  also  reveals  the 
Lord's  providence  toward  those  in  evil,  and  requires  those 
who  have  not  outwardly  committed  crime  to  search  their 
hearts  and  to  have  Christian  charity  toward  those  who  are 
in  evil. 


69 


The  Gospel  for  tece  New  Church. 

It  is  the  glorious  mission  of  the  church  to  raise  the  standard 
of  the  Lord  and  to  lead  on  to  victory  in  His  strength.  Every 
doctrine  of  the  church  proves  its  value  in  the  power  that  it 
gives  to  shun  evil  and  to  do  good.  To  no  church  has  the 
Lord  ever  revealed  as  to  the  New  Church  the  eternal  con- 
sequences of  good  and  evil;  to  none  has  He  ever  revealed 
as  to  the  New  Church  the  completeness  of  His  victories 
over  evil,  the  sufficiency  of  His  power  to  cast  out  all  vileness 
from  our  lives  and  hearts.  To  no  church  has  He  ever 
shown  as  to  the  New  Church  the  fulness  of  Divine  power 
in  His  Word,  making  that  power  available  for  our  help. 
This  is  the  Gospel  for  the  New  Church  to  teach  her  children 
and  young  men  and  women,  training  them  to  meet  the 
temptations  of  impurity  in  the  power  of  the  Divine  com- 
mand, "Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,"  showing  them 
in  the  Word  and  in  the  doctrines  the  promise  of  victory 
in  the  Lord's  strength. 

Of  the  holy  city  New  Jerusalem  it  is  written,  "There  shall 
in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  unclean"  (Rev.  xxi.  27). 
"By  unclean  is  signified  spiritual  whoredom,  which  is  the 
adulteration  of  the  good  and  the  falsification  of  the  truth  of 
the  Word"  (Apocalypse  Revealed,  924).  Outside  the  holy 
city  "are  dogs,  and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and 
murderers,  and  idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth  and  maketh 
a  lie"  (Rev.  xxii.  15).  "By  dogs  are  signified  in  general 
those  who  are  in  lusts  of  every  kind,  and  indvilge  them;  but 
in  particular  those  who  are  in  merely  corporeal  pleasures, 
especially  those  who  are  in  the  pleasure  of  eating,  and  drink- 
ing, in  which  alone  they  take  delight.  .  .  .  They  shall  not 
be  received  into  the  Lord's  New  Church."  (Apocalypse 
Revealed,  952.) 


vj  vj  o  U      unnHn-T 


y^(i>^ 


Cq^oO 


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